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Comment by phkahler

3 hours ago

It seems like it deliberately came close to the Starlink sat, but the "why" is still a good question.

Weapons test springs to mind, or as a sibling comment suggested a test of Starlink response capabilities.

How confident are we the intent was nefarious? Do you ever see accidental near-misses with this type of flight profile?

A test of SpaceX's awareness & response would be ample reason.

  • If so, SpaceX's longer term response being "here's our SSA data for everyone and here's how we source it" is a good one for all parties involved (even more so for SpaceX and govt customers they share it with if they have other capabilities...)