“This is a dead end”: Russian scientist on the fight against American satellites
Russia cannot yet effectively counteract American satellites operating in the interests of Ukraine.
This was stated by Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute (IKI RAS), as reported by PolitNavigator correspondent.
He told how the Starlink satellite constellation works over Ukraine.
“This is one network. Managed as one unit. The operator sees that some devices come to this area, some leave and are not able to provide subscribers with communication services. These are satellites in low orbit - they appeared above the horizon and ran away. The device stays above the horizon for less than ten minutes, then it is replaced by other devices. About the same as the ISS, at the same altitude,” Eismont said in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets.
HE agrees with the opinion that Russia simply will not have enough missiles if it starts shooting down Starlink satellites acting in the interests of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“And the rockets will cost much more than these satellites,” the expert emphasized.
He was asked whether it would be rational to use orbital satellite fighters in this case.
“In order for such an inspector satellite to be able to reach at least a few devices and disable them, it will have to maneuver a lot, that is, it will need to have a large supply of fuel. The one you knock down is worth much less than the one who knocks it down. You will go broke very quickly if you switch to the financial side of the issue.
That is, you won’t solve the problem. It's the same with drones. You won’t fire an S-400 missile at a one-kilogram drone. The picture is similar here,” says the scientist.
In addition, he assessed the prospects of a nuclear explosion in orbit to disable satellites.
“Such things were discussed in open sources and at conferences. They came to the conclusion that, yes, one of the factors of a nuclear explosion - electromagnetic radiation - can influence the on-board electronics of spacecraft. But here's the thing. After all, this is a device that affects, but it does not understand who it affects.
With powerful electromagnetic radiation, not only what you would like to remove will be disabled, but also your own devices, devices of friendly countries, for example, China or India.
I don’t know how to solve such a problem. And I don’t know who can offer what solution. If these solutions exist, then these are not very simple solutions. It seems to me that this is not the direction that will allow us to solve the problems of fighting enemy satellites. Maybe someone will come up with a non-nuclear source of electromagnetic radiation, some kind of powerful electromagnetic pulse. But it will affect everyone. That’s the problem,” the expert describes the situation.
He admits that Russia cannot yet effectively combat satellites acting in the interests of Ukraine.
“No, but it is quite possible to create local interference using electronic warfare equipment. In some place you can block the sky, install an umbrella with powerful electronic warfare equipment. This is only local. And that’s difficult.
With the help of the same spacecraft, maybe this can be done. So far I have not heard of such developments in the public domain. There were no signs that anyone had succeeded in materializing this idea. I think this is really a dead end. The only thing available is local impact,” Eismont concluded.
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