First a Chinese moon, now Russian, um, space weapons?

Posted on by John Holst

This December 6 article from the website “Russian Beyond the Headlines” is a little confusing.  And I’m not sure if it’s confusing because the translators got it wrong or because there’s not much knowledge with how space assets work–or maybe even the Russians aren’t sure what they want.

The article finally gets to its point about “passive” satellites being involved with precision guided weapons for the Russians.  Well, I have news for them–that happened a while ago.  Desert Storm and such, right?  GPS (Global Positioning Satellites for you SatNav boffins) was used extensively then, right?

But the post does seem to also point out the facts that Russia wants to beef up its ground infrastructure (so likely the satellite ground system–you can go here to read what that does–scroll down to part 6 and 7), and the precision guided weapons, too (such as perhaps installing GPS/GLONASS modules on their Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles).  So that might be something to worry about if they can do it.

Between China’s moon activities, and Russia’s boasting then, there seems to be a threat of space militarization growing.  In the meantime, the United States is fiddling with cutting down its space corps. (here and here), and adding things, such as Cyber to it.  Why cyber?  Well, someone had to come up with an idea to get promoted, I suppose.  Not only cyber, though–it also takes forever for the US to even build and launch new satellites…

Maybe our military and political management is being clever and attempting subterfuge and misdirection?  That might be just giving them too much credit.

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5 thoughts on “First a Chinese moon, now Russian, um, space weapons?”

  1. Well written, concise. As pointed out, it helps if we all agree on what we are talking about. To assume that only the bad guys are up to something is naive. Good work!.

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    1. I think I’m writing the same way I always do. What did you like earlier that’s not happening now? I write what I like to write, AND what I think others might like to read. If there’s something particular missing that I did earlier, just let me know.

      –TMSB

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Published by John Holst

Ill-Defined Space is written by me, John Holst. ​If you’ve ever asked the following question, “What is this commercial space industry thing?” then welcome to my world. I will never have the answer to that question, but I do offer insights based on my industry experience and observations. I’ve tried defining, decrypting, deciphering, analyzing, and then translating the endless stream of the world’s space industry activities, policies, and press releases. I’ve experienced varying degrees of success in my attempts to do so. The upshot is that if you want thoughtful, occasionally useful, observations about the world’s space industry, then you may want to read my analyses. Boring, but potentially credibility-building information follows: I have a Master’s in Commercial Enterprise in Space through the Florida Institute of Technology. I was an undergrad at the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating from there with a degree in Journalism. My analysis of the space industry has been a definitive source for national lawmakers and departments, news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and the San Francisco Chronicle, publications like National Geographic, and National Public Radio. It’s been published in The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity from 2014-2023 (here’s a link to a 1Q19 promo copy). You can also see my work in Quilty Analytic’s series of LEO Broadband Reports. ​ I’ve worked in the United States Air Force, Missile Defense Agency, Cobham, Space Dynamics Laboratory, the Space Foundation, and Quilty Analytics. I focused on space operations in the first few and conducted space industry research and analysis with the last two.