I want to add to this, we currently today can’t even reliably shoot a missile to blow up another missile in the way you’re describing, by detonating it next to the attacking missile. It’s much, much easier to calculate the incoming attack missile trajectory and fire a defense missile to slam into it head on to destroy it. If the US can’t do this with things going much slower, that are much smaller, with a controlled trajectory, and like a million times closer, there’s no way we can do it in space yet.
arcaeris t1_ir06laf wrote
Reply to comment by ItsMyImPulse in After DART: Using the first full-scale test of a kinetic impactor to inform a future planetary defense mission by EricFromOuterSpace
I want to add to this, we currently today can’t even reliably shoot a missile to blow up another missile in the way you’re describing, by detonating it next to the attacking missile. It’s much, much easier to calculate the incoming attack missile trajectory and fire a defense missile to slam into it head on to destroy it. If the US can’t do this with things going much slower, that are much smaller, with a controlled trajectory, and like a million times closer, there’s no way we can do it in space yet.