Samenvatting

Satellites are an increasingly important tool in modern warfare and, as such, there is a renewed interest in developing anti-satellite weapons, as well as in assessing the vulnerability of satellites to being intercepted. In 2007 China used a modified ballistic missile to intercept a defunct Chinese weather satellite. This was followed by an American intercept, in 2008, in which a modified Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), which is being developed as an anti-ballistic missile system, was used against an out of control US reconnaissance satellite. In order to intercept a satellite, the satellite trajectory should pass through the volume of space that can be reached by the interceptor. The size and shape of this volume depend on the possible trajectories followed by the interceptor missile during its boost phase and the resulting burnout velocity at the end of its boost phase. The possible trajectories flown and velocity gained during the boost phase determine the geographical launcher locations from where a given interceptor missile can reach a particular satellite. Using computer simulations of an SM-3 missile, we calculate possible launcher positions for the 2008 US ASAT test. These are compared to the launcher positions that follow from a simpler analytical model, in which the earth rotation and the altitude reached and distance travelled at the end of the boost phase are neglected.