Space-to-space missiles can also be used to lay down clouds of flechettes on collision course with space-based elements of the SPS. Attacks of this kind could only be made by nations or groups with fairly extensive spacefaring capabilities, but it could be very difficult for a defender to identify the origin of the attack and the identity of the assailant, especially if the missile were launched from a hidden platform high above GEO. The use of nonexplosive projectile clouds against targets in high orbit, however, has an important drawback for a spacefaring assailant: unless all the projectiles in the cloud actually strike their intended target, large numbers of hypervelocity bullets would be inserted into long-lived orbits in the Earth-Moon system, where they would plague the attackers as much as their victims. This consideration would be a strong deterrent to the use of projectiles against the power satellites themselves, since enormous numbers of projectiles would be needed to inflict significant damage on such an extended target. Because of the very low area density of the power satellite, most projectiles striking a power satellite would pass completely through, with increased dispersion in velocities and thus in orbital elements. Moreover, clouds of fragments from the power satellite would also be scattered about the Earth-Moon system, creating further collision hazards for both the assailants and their victims. Nuclear weapons effects and the capabilities of particle beam weapons and high energy lasers likely to be developed in the next few decades are discussed in some detail in Appendices C.l, C.2 and C.3, respectively, with further discussion on feasibility of the latter two types of weapons in Section 3.4 above. All of these could be used by spacefaring nations or groups in direct assaults against SPS elements. As remarked earlier, detonation of a nuclear warhead with a yield comparable to current strategic weapons (up to about one megaton) at distances of less than about ten kilometers could destroy any of the space-based SPS elements. Long-range system-generated electromagnetic pulses (SGEMP), however, would severely damage the power satellites, the COTVs, and perhaps the power systems of the LEO base and the GEO base at distances of up to hundreds of kilometers unless extensive circuit protection is added to the Reference Design. At lesser ranges, prompt radiation (neutrons, gamma rays, and X-rays) could adversely affect performance of electronics systems and could pose threats to personnel. A direct attack in space upon another nation’s satellites or space vehicles with nuclear warheads would be regarded as an act of war. However, a loophole in
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