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Originally Posted by Tripperfx3
I was in a Naval ROTC in HS and we had a chance to go on a Ballistic missile nuclear sub (SSBN). Each sub carries 12 missiles and each missile has 8 warheads, i believe, each capable of 10 times the power of Hiroshima. They work by shooting into the atmosphere and than breaking apart and they can direct each of the 8 warheads where to go with laser precision. So shooting into space isn't that far fetched.
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Space is not the same as orbit or falling out there of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WIKIPEDIA
The Kármán line lies at an altitude of 100 km (62.1 miles) above the Earth's surface, and is commonly used to define the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space
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Geostationary satellites orbit at 35,785 km (22,236 miles) above the equator and even LEO (Low Earth orbit) satellites at between 500 and 2000km are 5-20 times higher than the edge of space. Ground based ICBMs stop thrust at or well below 400km and apogee at 1200KM, but are no longer under power at that point.
Thus, they have to modify a pretty big missile to "shoot down" even the lowest flying satellites, but the lowest are also the fastest and thus harder to hit, so it could be interesting considering their poor results shooting down "simulated" ICBMs while still "in space" in the past.