Originally posted by Mini D
It wasn't a laser.
I posted the China laser Vs US satellites story a while back:
http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=188560 China Attempted To Blind U.S. Satellites With Laser Hmmm, interesting...they are probing our capabilities and their own.
Regards
Sun
http://www.defensenews.com/story.ph...1&C=americaChina has fired high-power lasers at U.S. spy satellites flying over its territory in what experts see as a test of Chinese ability to blind the spacecraft, according to sources.
It remains unclear how many times the ground-based laser was tested against U.S. spacecraft or whether it was successful.
But the combination of China’s efforts and advances in Russian satellite jamming capabilities illustrate vulnerabilities to the U.S. space network are at the core of U.S. Air Force plans to develop new space architectures and highly classified systems, according to sources............
In the same thread, Nilsen posted an update to the story that revealed a few more interesting details.
Regards,
Sun
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Nilsen:
Here is an update:
"US claims that China has used lasers to attack satellites
China has used high-energy lasers to interfere with US satellites, according to a US Army space-warfare specialist. Tests have been reported previously but it is now confirmed that the laser attacks were at least partially effective.
Command Sergeant Major David Lady of the Joint Functional Combat Command for Integrated Missile Defense, said at the Strategic Space & Defense conference in Omaha on 12 October that the attacks were detected after US satellite operators - most likely users of the National Reconnaissance Office's secret imaging satellites - observed that the satellites occasionally failed to perform over China.
"There had been times when we wondered at the sudden decline in effectiveness as the satellites passed over China," CSM Lady said. Sensors at the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein atoll in the South Pacific were tasked with tracking the satellites and observing any unusual phenomena. "We sensed the projection of beams against the spacecraft and could identify the streams of photons," CSM Lady said.
The Kwajalein data confirmed that the Chinese appeared to have "some level of confidence" in their laser countermeasures system, according to CSM Lady."
Source:
http://www.janes.com/aerospace/mili...61016_1_n.shtml