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AlpineCorbett t1_j6lu1hc wrote

Reply to comment by JazzRider in 2 big pieces of space junk nearly collide in orbital 'bad neighborhood' by jeffsmith202

We shot a satellite with an F-16 once. Turns out that's easier than getting rid of space junk....

Actually probably made that whole situation worse tbh

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theBYUIfriend t1_j6lwzc5 wrote

F-15 actually

It was in 1986 weapons system test

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AlpineCorbett t1_j6lxnrs wrote

Yep you're right. My B

Also, BYU? Hi neighbor.

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theBYUIfriend t1_j6noq8t wrote

Well I just went to college there. And it was actually BYU Idaho. I like to call myself a "recovering" BYUI grad haha.

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BirdOfSteel t1_j6lwsln wrote

You might be thinking of the F-15 that fired the missile. The missile actually had target-seeking capability so really the F-15 was mostly just an expensive missile launcher.

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AlpineCorbett t1_j6lxt4p wrote

You're right. An f-15 with our first ASM. Way back in the mid 80s.

Makes me wonder what kind of sophisticated ASM's we might have now. Or perhaps other anti satellite munitions.

Personally I'm hoping for big ass lasers, for obvious reasons.

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BirdOfSteel t1_j6mt29l wrote

Can't get much more effective than a missile that does the aiming for you. Since missile tech has already had a lot of funding/testing over the years, the missiles become cheaper to manufacture/sell, meaning which means you can just throw more bombs at the problem for the same amount of money.

Could make a really big laser if we just divert a little bit of the military budget though...

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