Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Kokolums]

A new topic for you - a super secret supposed threat from supposedly Russia in supposedly space, just when the voting needs to happen about aid to Ukraine.
As per Jake Sullivan.

My first thought is that since the US announced it is stationing nukes in the UK, russia must retaliate by announcing it is either giving iran a shitload of nukes or will station nukes in cuba or both. But russia cant just let the us do that with no response.

[DarkTZeratul]

But russia cant just let the us do that with no response.

The Cold War has been over for 30 years, my man.

[zorkuus]

The Cold War has been over for 30 years, my man.

Not in ruZZia. They have a perpetual small penis syndrome. Always feeling like they should be one of the big powers, but they're not. So they'll try to prove themselves in the only way a guy with a small dick knows how to: violence.

[Kokolums]

I was close. Russia wants to put nukes in space.

[zorkuus]

I was close. Russia wants to put nukes in space.

So what is that a response to? Does the US have nukes in space?

[Edge-]

So what is that a response to? Does the US have nukes in space?

Officially, nobody does last I recall. There's significant concerns around militarizing space and the risks and consequences that come with it.

[zorkuus]

Officially, nobody does last I recall. There's significant concerns around militarizing space and the risks and consequences that come with it.

I just want to hear the silly reason he is obviously going to deliver.

[Iphie]

Officially, nobody does last I recall. There's significant concerns around militarizing space and the risks and consequences that come with it.

I mean the servicing of the weapons alone make it kind of a non-starter. Besides, it's likely better to use kinetic bombs. ("rods from god", Mass drivers, what have you.)

[Xyonai]

I mean the servicing of the weapons alone make it kind of a non-starter. Besides, it's likely better to use kinetic bombs. ("rods from god", Mass drivers, what have you.)

More likely Putin would want a Satallite Nuke to destroy other satellites, hold it above the global telecommunications network as a threat.

[Sunseeker]

I mean the servicing of the weapons alone make it kind of a non-starter. Besides, it's likely better to use kinetic bombs. ("rods from god", Mass drivers, what have you.)

Where theres a weapon, theres a DoD budget.

Which is to say, if we were weaponizing space, I suspect we would have developed vastly superior systems for reaching orbit faster, safer, and more often.

[DarkTZeratul]

Officially, nobody does last I recall. There's significant concerns around militarizing space and the risks and consequences that come with it.

Putting nukes in space is also needlessly complicated when you can do significantly more damage by simply dropping a big solid object from orbit.

[Wilian]

Putting nukes in space is also needlessly complicated when you can do significantly more damage by simply dropping a big solid object from orbit.

The plan is probably to cause sudden mass EMP blast when the gamma rays hit the atmosphere to destabilize any and all unprotected electronics and paralyze the targeted area rather than any physical impact.

[ringpriest]

The plan is probably to cause sudden mass EMP blast when the gamma rays hit the atmosphere to destabilize any and all unprotected electronics and paralyze the targeted area rather than any physical impact.

That's been a plan since at least the early 60s, and they've had the capability since then as well. The Soviets hit Kazahkstan (then the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) with a high-altitude EMP as a test run in 1962.

[Elder Millennial]

The plan is probably to cause sudden mass EMP blast when the gamma rays hit the atmosphere to destabilize any and all unprotected electronics and paralyze the targeted area rather than any physical impact.

Putting nukes in space is also needlessly complicated when you can do significantly more damage by simply dropping a big solid object from orbit.

The primary advantage of being able to drop nukes from space is that it significantly cuts down on early warning times and makes any interception and retaliation attempts much harder.

Currently if you launch an ICBM, it gets picked up by satellite monitoring. The launch, getting into orbit+travel time+descent window is when retaliation or interception would be possible. If you just drop it from orbit, you cut that window down by about 75% or more.

Russian first strike capabilities are quite limited as they don't have stealth bombers like the B2 or the newer B21. It's easier to put a nuke in orbit than build something like the B2 or B21.

But the chances of the Russians putting a nuke in orbit are exactly ZERO. Militarizing space is not a box they want to open when you consider the annual payload capacity of the US DoD, NASA, ESA and the various private space companies operating in the West are literally orders of magnitude higher than that of Russia. It's not a "race" they want to start.

[Benggaul]

I dunno, if you ask me it sounds more like Russia finally got their hands on a copy of Space Cowboys and thought it was a documentary.

[DarkTZeratul]

The primary advantage of being able to drop nukes from space is that it significantly cuts down on early warning times and makes any interception and retaliation attempts much harder.

Sure, but you get the same advantage by just dropping a big rock from orbit, and a rock is considerably less complicated than a nuke and requires zero maintenance.

[Gabriel]

My first thought is that since the US announced it is stationing nukes in the UK, russia must retaliate by announcing it is either giving iran a shitload of nukes or will station nukes in cuba or both. But russia cant just let the us do that with no response.

Go ahead Russia. Try it. Make my day.

- - - Updated - - -

Sure, but you get the same advantage by just dropping a big rock from orbit, and a rock is considerably less complicated than a nuke and requires zero maintenance.

Dropping a rock from space is several orders of magnitude more expensive. It is also useless as anything else except a planned first strike weapon.

It would take months or years to fetch a large enough chunk from the asteroid belt, and then to accelerate it towards earth at just the right trajectory to hit whatever you want to hit. The engine would be visible to telescopes the entire time it is accelerating and everyone knows what you are doing so you will get nuclear first struck months before your space rock will even hit.

Rods From God isn't a viable weapon either, until you can mine and refine the metals for them in space.

[DarkTZeratul]

It would take months or years to fetch a large enough chunk from the asteroid belt, and then to accelerate it towards earth at just the right trajectory to hit whatever you want to hit. The engine would be visible to telescopes the entire time it is accelerating and everyone knows what you are doing so you will get nuclear first struck months before your space rock will even hit.

Rods From God isn't a viable weapon either, until you can mine and refine the metals for them in space.

Presumably you'd just fly your big rock (or similarly heavy object) up into orbit affixed to a satellite such that all you need to do is tell it when to drop it. Not sure why you'd have to originate it in space somehow.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm not saying it would be easy, or that it would go unnoticed, or even that it would necessarily be feasible. Just that it seems considerably simpler to set up and activate than orbital nukes, and effectively require zero maintenance.

[Kaleredar]

Presumably you'd just fly your big rock (or similarly heavy object) up into orbit affixed to a satellite such that all you need to do is tell it when to drop it. Not sure why you'd have to originate it in space somehow.

It’s hard enough getting just a spaceship off the ground because at a certain point you’re adding fuel to the payload that’s only there to lift the rest of the fuel higher. A giant… whatever it is you’re dropping, the entire point of which is to weigh as much as possible, would presumedly require considerably more thrust, and therefore more fuel, and therefore more fuel to lift the fuel, to even get it into orbit.

[Veggie50]

Presumably you'd just fly your big rock (or similarly heavy object) up into orbit affixed to a satellite such that all you need to do is tell it when to drop it. Not sure why you'd have to originate it in space somehow.

Because that’s not how orbit works… there’s several reasons why this is a fantasy.

- How do you get a rock up to the satelite? It’s impossible with our current way of bringing things into orbit. Literally everything we bring up is made specifically to be light weight for that reason.

- What happens when a satelite drops a rock? It orbits along with the satelite. It doesn’t just drop down.

- Even if you did get the rock to accelerate towards earth, calculating it’s trajectory precisely enough to even hit the right COUNTRY is incredibly complicated.