terrorist attack on ISS

I asked this question on sci.space.tech but was never answered, so I'll try
again. ( I am not a terrorist by the way ,. I am just a Terry and I wouldnt
ask this question if I thought it would give the terrorists any ideas they
didnt already have. ). Knowing that gettting a rocket or missile to
orbital height is the easy part compared to achieving the orbital speed, how
difficult would it be for terrorist to send a rocket to the height of the
ISS ( 250 km?) in a simple straight up flight where it just reaches this
height at the same time the ISS passes by. It wouldnt even need an
explosive to do any damage, the 17,000mph speed of the ISS would be enought
to destroy it. I can appreciate the navigation and timing aspects would be
difficult, this might be improved by say having a small charge to scatter
some small metal pieces over a wide area. But in terms of the rocketry
itself, would not the Iranians for example already have that capability? is
it within the relms of ametuer rocket buffs?
terry

d&tm wrote:

I asked this question on sci.space.tech but was never answered, so I'll try
again. ( I am not a terrorist by the way ,. I am just a Terry and I wouldnt
ask this question if I thought it would give the terrorists any ideas they
didnt already have. ). Knowing that gettting a rocket or missile to
orbital height is the easy part compared to achieving the orbital speed, how
difficult would it be for terrorist to send a rocket to the height of the
ISS ( 250 km?) in a simple straight up flight where it just reaches this
height at the same time the ISS passes by. It wouldnt even need an
explosive to do any damage, the 17,000mph speed of the ISS would be enought
to destroy it. I can appreciate the navigation and timing aspects would be
difficult, this might be improved by say having a small charge to scatter
some small metal pieces over a wide area. But in terms of the rocketry
itself, would not the Iranians for example already have that capability? is
it within the relms of ametuer rocket buffs?
terry

Those are known generally as 'pop-up' anti-satellite weapons, and
yes, all you'd have to do is burst a cloud of debris in the orbital path
of hte target. But tracking and timing become the real bear (too late,
you miss altogether, too soon, your debris cloud has begun to fall back
to Earth before the target reaches it), but it most certainly can be
done. (depending on the orbital height, and when the target passes
essentially over your launch site)


http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/A...epts%20against

http://www.pugwash.org/reports/pac/53/garwin.htm


Wether it can be done by, say, Iran or North Korea today, the answer
is probably no. For now...


But China? Maybe:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...7/193114.shtml



--

Frank

You know what to remove to reply...

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"d&tm" wrote in
:

Knowing that
gettting a rocket or missile to orbital height is the easy part
compared to achieving the orbital speed, how difficult would it be for
terrorist to send a rocket to the height of the ISS ( 250 km?) in a
simple straight up flight where it just reaches this height at the
same time the ISS passes by.



It's beyond the means of terrorists to send a rocket to orbital height. A
nation willing to commit the resources on the other hand is a different
story. But I would expect they would get more bang per buck engaged in
other acts than space piracy.

They wouldn't dare allow GW Bush or Dick Cheney onboard or anywhere near
ISS.
-
Brad Guth


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Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

"Brad Guth" wrote in news:13b6ea0f1e5bc8171b8a272358fc6132.49644
@mygate.mailgate.org:

They wouldn't dare allow GW Bush or Dick Cheney onboard or anywhere near
ISS.
-
Brad Guth



I imagine it would be okay so long as Cheney left his shotgun back home...

-- Bob

"Odd Bob" wrote in message


"Brad Guth" wrote in news:13b6ea0f1e5bc8171b8a272358fc6132.49644
@mygate.mailgate.org:

They wouldn't dare allow GW Bush or Dick Cheney onboard or anywhere near
ISS.
-

I imagine it would be okay so long as Cheney left his shotgun back home...
Not a good idea, especially if that ******* farts off with the sorts of
disinformation like he's been doing to us all along, with the sorts
having butt-spewed us with all of those WMD infomercial lies upon lies.

Of course, we should give our Henry Kissinger a few of those extra
Jewish browny points on behalf of his flatulence spewing, sharing as
much of the credit wherever such nasty credit is more than past due.

If there was so much as a static spark, I'm afraid that ISS with that
much onboard intellectual flatulence would subsequently explode itself
into bits. Of course, once exploded, as then we wouldn't be risking any
further lives nor continuing with that horrific cost and subsequent
added factor of polluting of mother Earth to such an extent.
-
Brad Guth


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