Very serious

China has demonstrated that they can knock out a satellite with a missile. While this has some pretty ominous implications for the escalation of the weaponization of space, it also says something about things here on Earth.

First, if China can do it now, will Afghanistan (or Microsoft) be able to do it in another 20 or 30 years? Since it doesn't directly hurt people and since there are no news cameras and since the rules of space wars are pretty unclear, is it really an act of war or vandalism to blow up someone else's bird?

Imagine a difficult time, with oil scarce and economies struggling, when one nation would knock out a couple GPS satellites just to send us a message. IT is hard to fathom how a major city like LA would even function now wothout GPS. Planes, deliveries, emergency services and surveyors all rely on it. With time, they'd all adjust. But the immediate financial impact would be significant.

Now get serious, if Taiwan ever gets hot, how long does it take before something happens up there? Can our military even mobilize without GPS?

This news story is very serious.