Potential military application of Starlink

[Grey Havoc]

A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.

 

[Forest Green]

A pop-up can be as simple as a 'dumb' sub-orbital booster lofting a load of scrap into a particular LEO orbit. Indiscriminate, but effective.

Sub-orbital surely means not capable of putting something in orbit? Space LVs typically aren't cheap either, especially when non-re-usable.

 

[Grey Havoc]

The scrap doesn't have to stay in orbit, just to be in a certain part of the target/s orbit at a certain point in time. A very loose analogy would be a roadblock. Or, alternatively, an even looser comparison could be had with caltrops, depending on the density/spread of the scrap used.

 

[Forest Green]

The scrap doesn't have to stay in orbit, just to be in a certain part of the target/s orbit at a certain point in time. A very loose analogy would be a roadblock.

That might work against one satellite but the missile would still need sufficiently accurate guidance to hit a small starlink satellite even with a shotgun KKV, which means it would still cost SM-3 money and that only downs one satellite and there are 6,350 of them and they only weigh 260kg each and cost only $500k each. A single Falcon 9 reusuable launch costs $15m and can launch ~75 of them, bringing the total launched cost per unit to $700k each. Good look developing an ASAT missile for less than that. This is the sole reason Putin has resorted to nuclear ASAT capabilities - even though nukes are expensive it still works out cheaper overall (assuming the satellites aren't radiologically and EMP-hardened military units).

 

[Grey Havoc]

There is really no limit on the amount of scrap one can deploy into the paths of LEO platforms, if you have a half decent tech base and don't care much about pesky little things like collateral damage. Not to mention that such boosters wouldn't necessarily need fixed launch sites. And Starlink satellites aren't exactly that maneuverable. Or robust for that matter.

 

[Desertfox]

Space is big, very big, even in crowded area like LEO. You also can't just put up a fence and expect things to fly thu it. If you want to take down Starlink you have to target every satellite individually. Also throwing up space junk into orbit is a good way to get every nation on the planet to hate you.

 

[TomS]

Starlink Now Being Deployed On U.S. Navy Warships

Starlink is part of the Navy's ambitious SEA2 program that aims to provide high-bandwidth resilient global connectivity for U.S. warships that will have major operational and morale benefits.

www.twz.com

Sometimes not even officially. On one LCS, the Command Senior Chief and the Chief's Mess took it on themselves to install a secret and unauthorized Starlink terminal and operate it entirely for their own benefit, flat out lying to the XO and CO about its existence.

This story is such a complete clusterfuck. Bunch of totally disastrous chiefs, abetted by a terrible wardroom (The Combat Systems Officer found out about the illegal install when an official Starshield terminal as fitted near it and did not go directly to the XO or CO about it because their "mentors" told them not to!)

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi

A scathing Navy investigation reveals how USS Manchester's enlisted leaders endangered their ship with an unauthorized Starlink Wi-Fi setup.

www.navytimes.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

Putin asked Musk to switch off internet over Taiwan

Russian president asked world’s richest man not to activate his Starlink satellite over the island as a favour to China

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Voltzz]

-Ku Band non-cooperative Bi/Multi-Static radar for low altitude gap filler radar

The German Fraunhofer Institute is doing a lot of research in this area with the Sabbia 2.0 project:

Stars in Their Eyes

The Starlink satellite communications network is on track to provide global broadband connectivity. Starlink is also emerging as a promising passive radar technology.

euro-sd.com

Using Starlink in this way is not merely a theoretical idea. Research is advancing to employ Starlink downlink signals as an RF source for passive radar. In late January 2024, Germany’s Ministry of Defence announced that the country was developing a passive radar which could exploit Starlink’s signals. The work is being performed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR). Reports stated that the system uses a reference antenna which follows Starlink satellites as they cross the sky. The reference antenna detects and copies the signal’s characteristics as these are beamed down to Earth. A second antenna is pointed towards the area of interest the radar is monitoring. The reference signal is compared with those signals coming into the second antenna. This process ascertains if these signals are being altered by targets in the antenna’s field of view.
[...]
The abundance of terrestrial RF tends to diminish in frequencies above ten gigahertz. However, satellite downlink frequencies exist in X-band (7.25-7.75 GHz), Ku-band (10.9-12.75 GHz) and Ka-band (18-20 GHz). As Starlink is showing, some of these wavebands could soon have ubiquitous global availability. Employing satellite RF sources is particularly attractive when you want to use a passive radar over the oceans.
[...]
The movement of the RF transmitter means that imagery of still and moving targets can be processed. When coupled with the characteristics of Starlink’s downlink frequencies, this movement helps provide a target resolution of circa one metre.
[...]
The entire Sabbia-2.0 architecture can weigh as little at 60 kg (132 lb), meaning that it can be easily accommodated on a vehicle. Other applications are being considered for the technology. For example, Sabbia-2.0 could be configured to outfit a ship or aircraft.

For an overview of the potential and challenges of this technology i can recommend this paper:
Capabilities and challenges of passive radar systems based on broadband low-Earth orbit communication satellites