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Back to Inside Starcloud’s $2B Space Factory, with Philip Johnston & Ezra Feilden.

Why Is Shooting Down a Satellite So Hard?

Philip Johnston says shooting down a satellite is a lot harder than blowing up a data center in Virginia, because satellites travel at about 17,000 miles an hour. A kinetic hit at that speed is very difficult.

Starlink is the case study. Starlink is being used in Ukraine, Star Shield is too, and the Russians are not happy about it. Cyber tactics and physical tactics are already visible on Starlink. Starcloud uses the same kind of cryptography so the satellites stay secure from that side.

Anything bigger than a one inch cube can be tracked in space, so an approach would show up. Tampering with the satellites would be an act of war on the US. The Outer Space Treaty governs what cannot be done, and one key purpose of Space Force is developing interceptors to dissuade offensive action.

Grokipedia·Philip Johnston·Outer Space Treaty

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Inside Starcloud’s $2B Space Factory ·

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  1. How Much Did Starcloud Pay for a Broken Vibration Table?Philip Johnston says Starcloud bought a secondhand broken vibration table for 200 grand after the team could not find a table in the US that would test a…
  2. Where Are Most New Satellites Built?Philip Johnston says Starcloud is based in the Seattle region because 90% of all satellites launched in the last few years by mass were designed, built, and…
  3. How Does Starcloud Cool Computers in Space?Adi Oltean says Starcloud cools computers in space with the liquid cooling that data centers on Earth switched to in 2025, because liquid cooling is the only…
  4. How Big Is the Starcloud 3 Spacecraft?Ezra Feilden says Starcloud 3 is the company's largest platform, a vehicle of about two tons, and as many as 50 can deploy on one Starship launch.
  5. How Easy Is Booking a Falcon 9 Rideshare?Ezra Feilden says booking a Falcon 9 rideshare is unbelievably easy.
  6. Why Would Anyone Put a Data Center in Orbit?Philip Johnston says a data center in orbit gets cheaper than one on Earth once launch falls to about $500 a kilogram.
  7. What Is Starcloud One Doing With Satellite Imagery?Philip Johnston says Starcloud One runs inference on satellite imagery in orbit, so the coordinates of a vessel can come down in minutes rather than hours and…
  8. Why Does Everyone Leave a Starcloud 2 Test?Philip Johnston says everyone leaves the building for a Starcloud 2 vibration test because a xenon tank under the satellite has about half the explosive power…
  9. What Did Miguel Rivera Do at Helion?Miguel Rivera was the welder for Helion Energy, where the team built fusion generators, and he ran their fabrication shop for more than a year before becoming…
  10. What Did Bailey Montaño Do Before Starcloud?Bailey Montaño started at SpaceX in aerospace, spent about four years there, tried biotech and consumer product design, and then spent three years in fusion…

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