WANT to blow up a satellite? It’s easier than you might think.
China recently boosted fears of a war zone developing in space by shooting down one of its own satellites. In response, Adrian Gheorghe at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, led an investigation into whether any group with access to an intermediate-range ballistic missile could do the same.
They used the satellite-tracking program Orbitron, available on the internet, to select their satellite and accurately predict its orbit. This was linked to a flight-control simulator that allowed them to launch, track and correct the trajectory of their virtual missile,…
