re boom whoosh in article r ofinndku gap caltech edu palmer cco caltech edu david m palmer writes orbiting billboard i would just like to point out that it is much easier to place an object at orbital altitude than it is to place it with orbital velocity for a target km above the surface of earth you need a delta v of km s assuming that rockets with specific impulses of seconds are easy to produce a rocket with a dry weight of kg would require only about kg of fuel oxidizer unfortunately if you launch this from the us or are a us citizen you will need a launch permit from the office of commercial space transportation and i think it may be difficult to get a permit for an antisatellite weapon the threshold at which ocst licensing kicks in is roughly km the rules are actually phrased in more complex ways but that is the result all work is one man s work henry spencer u of toronto zoology kipling henry zoo toronto edu utzoo henry
