Anti-Satellite (ASAT) System for Dumbasses - Part One

by spynuclear@yahoo.com

I have decided to do this as a public service.

This is not as fun as a military grade multi-million dollar missile type ASATs but is a workable alternative.

As an amateur astronomer, I have had plenty of times where, while trying to lock in on a difficult target with my telescope, a blasted satellite comes into view and spoils my concentration.  Since spy satellites can see me, I figured, "Why not spoil the view?"

They violate my sovereign airspace and so it goes...  There are a few high-tech equipment needs for this hack:

  • Red and/or green pen-type solid-state lasers with fresh batteries.
  • Computer-controlled GoTo telescope.  I use a 12" Meade LX200 Classic and a Meade ETX-90.
  • "Starlight" night vision scope.  Not absolutely required, but it does come in handy for target spotting.
  • Satellite tracking software.  This is used to predict the target orbit and when and where it will come up over the horizon, as well as the orbit path.
  • Current and up to date orbital elements of the satellites.

You are going to mount the lasers onto the telescope.

The laser beams are bore sighted to where the telescope is pointed.  The red laser is used to blank out the infrared (IR) and near infrared cameras.  The green laser is a countermeasure against the optical frequencies.

Computer-controlled GoTo telescopes have an option to track satellites so that the observer can watch them watching you.  You simply select the appropriate bird from the list and proceed with your vast eviltude!  It is very important to use up to date orbital elements for proper tracking.

Recon satellites can be flying a variety of orbits.

The camera birds are usually in low, fast polar orbits that fly over the poles in a north-south or south-north path.  These are what we are going after.

Electronic ferret birds are in either a geosynchronous orbit, where they hover over a geographical region, or a Molniya-type orbit, where they move slowly over a target area for a long time before disappearing below the horizon for a short time.

Molniya orbits are egg-shaped where the Earth is located at the pointed end.

The fat end of the orbit is focused over the target with a long loiter/lag time.  This is a great orbit for communications and scanning purposes.  These operating characteristics can be useful for picking your "victim."

So what if the target is owned by a variety of intel outfits with multi-billion dollar budgets and alphabet soup names such as CIA, NSA, NRO, NGIA, SVR, FSB, GRU, DOD, etc.

The procedure is to lock onto a bird as it comes up over the horizon.

The telescope does the target tracking for you and the lasers are used to overload and blank out the cameras on the satellite.  Think of this as high-tech geekdom in action!

Enough people doing this at random will seem to the sat operators like flying through an enemy territory with very active AAA (flak) and Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) defense systems.  The laser beams will diverge enough to blanket the cameras as long as you accurately aim at the satellite target.

Another version is to mount a microwave Gunnplexer that you can modulate in various modes onto the telescope.

This system can be used to mess with the microwave/radar mapping capabilities of the target radar mapper/ferret satellite.

Any focused scan of your area on the ground gets overloaded.  This is also a great way to attract attention to yourself from the "higher powers."

You will need to add some lightweight microwave antenna feedhorns to keep the microwave beam running towards the sat targets.

Do not expose yourself to the microwave energy, as you would not want to get BBQ'd by your own device.

References

ASAT for Dumbasses: Part Two - Detecting and Tracking Stealth Satellites
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