Why is high altitude rocket dangerous?

Titan II missile
(USAF photo)

Kimmo Huosionmaa

The one of the most chilling news in the world has been that the North Korea has been shot ballistic missile ten times higher than ISS is orbiting the Earth. That will give the North Korean military the capacity to attack against the ISS (International Space Station) with those missiles. Most of the ASAT weapons in the world are modified ICBM missiles, what can destroy their targets with kinetic energy or nuclear warheads. The weapons principle is very simple. That weapon will drive in the collision course to the target, and then the kinetic energy will slam the satellite into the orbital trajectory.


Problem with the ASAT weapons is the searching the right target from the orbital trajectory. The satellite is quite a small target, and that’s why the guidance of the missile to the right target is difficult. If those missiles are equipped with the special warhead, what seems like shotgun ammunition. In those warheads is a metal ball, what gives the weapon same kind of effect than shotguns have.

Normally ASAT weapons will not use thermonuclear warheads, because the EMP-pulse and the plasma, will make damages to many more satellites. The tests of the ASAT weapons are problematic, because they increased the number of the space junkie, what will cause danger for other satellite because the debris of those test will stay at the orbital trajectory even for years.


The Schwarm of those metal balls will destroy that satellite immediately. But the problem is how to find the right target? Usually, ASAT weapon will track to the target by optical telescopes and radars, what is used to track the trajectory of the satellite, and also make possible for visual identification of the target. And of course, the GPS-satellites might track by their signals.


And if the state has the rocket, what will overtake the altitude of those satellites, will they able to destroy those vital elements of those systems. Also, ASAT is the danger for low orbital intelligence and photo recon satellites what provides information for strategic targets to the headquarters.


Those ASAT systems can be the ship, submarines mobile devices, or aircraft mounted, but also fixed silos are used. There is also made tests to destroy the satellites with high power lasers, or radio-.and microwaves. The radio waves are used by the equipment where two extremely powerful radars will cross their signals in the same position, and if that equipment is synchronized in same frequency, will the arc flame destroy the target immediately. But in those cases, must the target identified very careful. Because when the direct energy weapon hits the target, the strike can’t be denied. And that’s why the missile concepts are more popular than directed energy weapons.