Are Starlink Satellites a groundbreaking military breakthrough ?

These first 60 starlink satellites are the beginning of up to 12,000 of them with 1 million relays worldwide.

Like everyone else I looked at them today and thought pretty lights and cheap Internet cool.

Then something clicked.

For years we’ve been hearing about the Chinese and Russian anti-satellite capabilities and how vulnerable the military’s GPS system, Communications and reconnaissancesatellites are .

If Starlink plans come to pass all my fears were for naught.

I’ve wondered for a couple years why the US did not keep up with anti-satellite capabilities . Not anymore i’ve heard whispers of Musk’s plan but the capabilities didn’t dawn on me. Until I saw the satellite train in orbit today.

Egg on my face!

No one has the capability to shoot down thousands of satellites in non-geosynchronous orbits.

Anybody remember the words “star force” ?

IMO You’re looking at one of the main drivers for that program . This can be a complete game changer for our military capabilities .

But I had to dig to find any reference to firm military connections.

The first source I came across mentioned that the DOD awarded SpaceX $29 million for research into satellite to plane to ground conductivity.

Shortly after words SpaceX received nearly all of the research funding they needed. Other companies looking into the mega constellations are following far behind. I think SpaceX is the one that the DOD is backing.

www.teslarati.com...

Unjammable communication links due to saturation from both over and under the horizon communication. Faster transmission, shorter connection distances and low orbits that can give individual warfighters no wait satellite hook ups. (no more tasking)

A modular assembly line allows for, weather reporting, signals intercept, GPS and even imagery.

For example, an inexpensive imaging system can be added to many of the low orbiting satellites and provide the same quality of imaging as the current bespoke satellites operated by the NRO, but with a dramatic increase in the amount of terrain imaged.  Such a system may allow the elimination of many tactical ISR UAV orbits, and truly move satellite imagery from an asset utilized by a small cadre of personnel to being available tactically to every service member.  The information generated from the payloads can be effortlessly streamed to end users utilizing the considerable bandwidth provided by the crosslinked network. 

It could even make reconnaissance drones obsolete .

www.realcleardefense.com...


If I’m right. I guarantee you there is more than one army signals officer sporting a Stiffy.

I am actually disturbed by these starlink sats. It's got that "skynet" feel to it.
Along with Boston dynamics (Teledyne systems) The robots that might be the terminators.
And also Google deep blue.
When fiction meets fact, so to speak.

The people of the earth deserve to have a vote on what is okay to be in orbit above their heads.
None have asked me if I want these around my planet.. We need some global space rules

originally posted by: Spacespider
The people of the earth deserve to have a vote on what is okay to be in orbit above their heads.
None have asked me if I want these around my planet.. We need some global space rules

Yes we do, this is infringement to the highest degree. IMHO

a reply to: Spacespider

Everything I listed is already in orbit above the earth. Just not in the same quantities .


Besides we’re talking about the US government. They’ve got everything under control . (Sarc)

a reply to: Fallingdown

Satellites will never make other ISR assets obsolete. Their resolution isn't as good as an airborne platform, and they're too predictable.

As for Starlink, I wouldn't say ground breaking, but it's definitely something that the military will take advantage of. A constellation of 40-50 AEHF satellites would pretty much guarantee communications would remain intact.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I was looking forward to your input on the imagery . The saturation in low earth orbit had me wondering .

From what I know ( and that’s just enough to be dangerous ) even now our communications could use a serious upgrade .

a reply to: Fallingdown

They've begun launching the AEHF satellites. They use EHF to uplink and SHF to downlink. But yes, they can use an upgrade. It's long been rumored that they were working on a game changing update, but it hasn't been put in place yet.

a reply to: Zaphod58


12,000 satellites that have the power to provide the entire world with Internet. Operating In non geosynchronous orbit maneuvering independently at altitudes of 200 to 300 miles.

While currently operating on frequencies between 12 and 75 GHz Ka, Ku and V- band for the first generation . With research funding by the DOD to study satellite to air to ground communications .

Could very well be that rumored upgrade. At least significantly increase communications as relays for the AEHF satellites to individual units, squads or soldiers because of the numbers . ( jamming is directional isn’t it ?)

I was also thinking of military uplinks to satellites. No more waiting for the right time or pointing the satellite receiver in the right direction. Now all you would have to do is look up on the battlefield and one would be there.

There’s a million moving parts in this project and a large majority of them have Military applications.

It just stands to reason. For me it’s all about connecting the dots .


Edit:

That last sentence gave me another brain worm. Damn things drive me crazy until I scratch them with research . Lol

It made me check into miniaturization of satellite imagery. This is a 2016 article from the US Naval institution .

In 2016 they were mainly talking about OneWeb but in 2019 it’s obvious SpaceX has taken the lead .

The bulk of commercial miniaturized satellite innovation has occurred in high-resolution Earth imaging and broadband communications. One pioneering company, Terra Bella (formerly Skybox), launched a microsatellite capable of imaging the Earth in sub-one-meter panchromatic resolution at the end of 2013 and another similar satellite in 2014.6 Terra Bella plans to have a constellation of 13 microsatellites orbiting by the end of this year that can image nearly any spot on Earth twice per day and can even capture 90-second high-definition video clips.7

Snip

Imaging by small satellites is not restricted to the visual spectrum. Large commercial satellite companies are beginning to conduct synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and infrared (IR) imaging. Miniature satellites would also be capable of IR imaging, and small or microsatellites in low Earth orbit may be able to carry out SAR imaging using separate transmit and receive satellites communicating with each other.11 U.S. and foreign companies also are using micro and nanosatellites to receive ship Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) transmissions.12 Correlating AIS information with satellite intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data will allow observers to key in on ships not broadcasting AIS, even in the midst of a cluttered ocean.

I’m not specifically talking about nano satellites or even very small ones . . The point I was trying to make is reconnaissance imagery has been shrinking down from the 20 ton X8’s for quite a while .


www.usni.org...

I’ve only done research on this line of thought today. And every time I do things keep lining up .

Guess I’ll have to wait and see ?

Unless I get another one of them damn brain worms .

originally posted by: Spacespider
The people of the earth deserve to have a vote on what is okay to be in orbit above their heads.
None have asked me if I want these around my planet.. We need some global space rules

How do we vote?

eg. One country votes against and another country votes for!

Kind regards,

bally

a reply to: Fallingdown

They are multi purpose.

Nobody asked me about this, i did not give permission to put one million of them in there.

Very bad idea, maybe still time to stop them?

a reply to: bally001

Everyone here!

Tell me your value, what you worth?

Netflix?
Smartphone?
Maserati?
A mansion?
A country?

I have no value because i am not for sale anymore.

If a country wants to take out GPS they can. If they initiate a Kessler effect then most satellites will be taken out. Humanity can forget about further space exploration after that for the 200 or so years.

We are destined to hack the system into full civilian dissemination. Before this century is over, many or most humans will be able to see any point on Earth in real time at a whim. Including the archived database of all internet connected microphones and camera sensors. Travelling into the past is Almost here.

The only recourse for privacy is to not be seen. Anybody ready to blow the whistle on the invisibility fabrics and techniques that we're developed decades ago yet?? I'm becoming impatient with only the elites and their international mercenary armies having them only

a reply to: worldstarcountry
scared you all didn't I? Don't worry, with the average age of the ATS user bearing mostly into retirement, the ones who fear it the most will be dead by then. The younger of us, in our thirties - forties ish, will be seeking to guide our children into how to hide between the light (invisible light ) . We may have a chance to go invisible ourselves. Some sympathetic soul within the true establishment elite (the faceless nameless behind the banksters) will eventually disclose the extent to which they use invisibility technology to hide from the new age of God's eye (AI linked surveillance technology) to the world.

It just too bad they will have to sacrifice their life to do it. But somebody will, because someone always dissents from within when the core becomes too rotten.

Are Starlink Satellites a groundbreaking military breakthrough ?

No. But you can bet that same technology is being leveraged.

a reply to: RadioRobert
Well yea, I figured the same deployment capacity exists for equal sized mini-satellite swarms with Xb1 capabilities. Lock on and detonate with integrated warhead.

Now that I think about it, that is really going to suck. Many of us will see the age of swarms of these weaponized versions falling down into our cities as civilian space commerce evolves. I better move the family to the mountains earlier than expected.

a reply to: Grimpachi

Kessler effect would work, or a few simultaneous strategically-placed orbital EMP / mininukes to burn everything out up there ....

a reply to: Fallingdown

Why am I just now finding out about these... I wonder when they'll pass over the southern US so's I can see them... Is there a tracker of some kind?