Space denial

[Orry]

America quickly caught up with Russia and 'won' the space race.

The American's also had the advantage in satellite technology and thus could spy from space on Russia and China etc

What would happen if they decided to deny America access to space above their countries by seeding space with millions of bits of junk.

They fire rockets directly upward into space loaded with explosives and shrapnel and detonate them whilst they are still above their own territory. This then spread around the world damaging and destroying Satellites in a band that covers Russia and China.

The rockets that are fired are never targeted at manned craft and the Russians / Chinese announce what they are doing and do it before there are to many satellites deployed.

They announce that it has been done to prevent American spying and to preserve peace. They support the right of any country including America to do the same.

What could America do?

How does a world without Satellite communications etc develop compared to our own?

Could a rouge nation today do something similar? What could / would the rest of the world do about it?

 

[Kevin Renner]

And deny LEO to themselves at the same time. That's not the way it works

 

[Orry]

And deny LEO to ourselves at the same time. That's not the way it works

Yes they are denying access to space above their own countries to themselves as well.

They are taking an area of technology were they are losing out of the equation so they can concentrate on other areas.

 

[e of pi]

Yes they are denying access to space above their own countries to themselves as well.

They are taking an area of technology were they are losing out of the equation so they can concentrate on other areas.

The issue is that while they lost the moon race, they too were getting great benefit from orbital platforms for optical and signals intelligence, communications relay, global positions, weather, and more. To "deny" LEO to the US on the grounds that they got to the moon first would also eliminate these tremendous benefits which the Soviets and Chinese were (and do) see, not just to themselves but to Europe and other powers, which are worth far more than the publicity value of the moon landings. Talk about cutting of your nose to spite your face...

 

[Trevayne]

They also kill a lot of people and have a lot more property damage because without access to space there are no weather satellites, so hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, etc show up with less warning.

Now in this world, it might not be apparent, until the situation resolves itself and they get access to space restored. They will not be able to fully appreciate the damage suffered until they get satellites up or have the opportunity of a cross TL comparison.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

The advantages of having a space presence, even just satellites is far too great to be ignored. The US responds by pushing through the Orion program. In this world space ships are made of thick steel largely invulnerable to aluminum shrapnel that the Russians launched.

The space race is much hotter than in OTL.

 

[jahenders]

We probably do several things:
1) We protest diplomatically and hold up various trade or other agreements

2) We sue if their actions can be directly blamed for destroying/damaging expensive asset.

3) We launch more satellites in different orbits and/or hardened to maintain that capability

4) We work to prevent China from benefiting from any space-based technology (GPS, etc).

5) We increase work on alternate technologies for similar effect -- near-space balloons, high-altitude aircraft, etc.

 

[Michel Van]

Orry proposal to launch kilotons of shrapnel, would close the Orbit for everyone.

Soviet could use killer satellite and Ground-orbit missile could shoot down US satellite over USSR territory
but the USA could counter with Laser weapons and Ground-orbit missile to shot down USSR satellite over the USA.
So that become a standoff on long term...