Comment by teeray

Comment by teeray 4 days ago

3 replies

Probably needs more delta-v to match orbit than a suborbital ICBM would. Not less risk—just more expensive. Depends how valuable the target is.

tomatotomato37 4 days ago

Nah, they are pretty similar in difficulty for interception - the first US ASAT program used essentially the same Nike Zeus missiles used for ABM duty during the late 50s

XorNot 4 days ago

Except you don't. You only need to match velocities if you want to dock with something.

Hitting something in orbit just requires you to be in the way at the right time.

Basically an intercept is a lot easier.

adgjlsfhk1 4 days ago

not really. Suborbital vehicles achieve orbital heights. It's actually probably easier since you don't need a payload. The velocity alone will do the trick.