I'm writing a story where the plot revolves around a satellite being hacked, held for ransom, and used for orbital bombardment when that falls through. I don't know much about computers and I'm trying to add some realism. It's set in a universe where electronics are still stuck in the 70s/80s but aerospace engineering is at the point where the villains could do a fly-by and install their own control circuit if need be.
Anyway,
>What's the least traceable way to take control of a satellite, other than routing the signal through a bunch of proxies? Would the hackers be capable of changing the signal's frequency/access code? >How would the government go about tracking the hackers down? >If the government captures a relay node/transmitter/whatever, how hard would it be to regain control of the satellite?
The signal is being routed through air. You would need to transmit a signal to the satellite. I'm not sure what you mean by orbital bombardment, but you would want to know what orbit the satellite is in. It might be hard to bomb any place in the world from a geostationary orbit. I would assume they use some sort of code to transmit before the satellite accepts the changes like a preamble or something so anyone with the right equipment couldn't brick it.
Just telnet into it with the default user and password :DDDD
Brody Martinez
>Villains do a fly-by Don't. Seriously, if you don't know exactly how expensive and difficult it is just to put a vehicle into orbit to get close to a satellite, how much effort it takes to catch a small target, line yourself up to the exact right speed, etc then nothing else in your story is going to be believable either. Just make shit up if you're not going for hard realism. It would take more money, effort, etc than they could get via ransom to get into the position to demand said ransom. What you're describing is like buying a $1,000 gun to mug one person with $20 then throw the gun in a dumpster.
Robert Cruz
>orbital bombardment meme >It's set in a universe where electronics are still stuck in the 70s/80s Could be a universe where RSA was never invented then, would make for an interesting setting. >aerospace engineering is at the point where the villains could do a fly-by and install their own control circuit if need be How come? Does the rocket equation work differently in this universe?
Ethan Wood
It would be most realistic to claim that your would-be hacker subverted a facility already in control of one.
Blake Cruz
DRUMPF ALREADY LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG
EVERYONE KNEW THERES TREEEMENDOUS MILITARY DEVELOPMENT IN SPACE BUT THEY TRY NOT TO TALK ABOUT IT
WHEN SHIT GETS THAT HOT EVERYONES SATELLITES ARE GOING DOWN ANYWAY ITS GONNA BE PLANETES WORLD
THERE ARE LOITERING HIGH ALTITUDE THEATER DRONE SYSTEMS FOR WHEN ALL THE SATELLITES GET REKT
Thanks. The satellite in question is a fuckhuge orbital propellant depot servicing an Earth spaceport, so it's located nearby, and in LEO. Mass and velocity won't be an issue.
H A C K E R M A N
Space travel is quasi-affordable in-universe and the ransom is pretty damn princely, but that's a good point.
>meme How so?
>Could be a universe where RSA was never invented then, would make for an interesting setting. Rivest–Shamir–Adleman? I'll look into that, thank you.
>How come? Does the rocket equation work differently in this universe? Proton-boron fusion reactors and Skylons are mass-produced.
That's my primary idea. One of the operators at ground control could definitely be bribed/coerced, but after the bad guys take control, what's stopping TPTB from tracing their signal?
Parker Garcia
>what's stopping TPTB from tracing their signal? why would "the bad guys" ever let them know they have control? A good system would covertly infect and control whatever machines are there. Maybe the station remotely controlled via ultrasound, a hidden fibre optic cable, snail sex pheromones, no one says there has to be traceable packets or radio signals. Unless you mean that other stations could identify the infected one? idk
Jonathan Torres
>why would "the bad guys" ever let them know they have control? They're holding it for ransom and are threatening to blow it up/crash it unless their demands are met.
A good system would covertly infect and control whatever machines are there. Maybe the station remotely controlled via ultrasound, a hidden fibre optic cable, snail sex pheromones, no one says there has to be traceable packets or radio signals. Unless you mean that other stations could identify the infected one? idk
...Shit, you have a point there. Aren't satellites in constant communication with ground control?
Xavier Thomas
>...Shit, you have a point there. Aren't satellites in constant communication with ground control?
no clue
Austin Rodriguez
Going to bed, see you fuckers in the morning.
Anyway, another retarded idea I had was having the villains need some sort of special radio equipment (which can be traced to an arms dealer, giving the protagonists a lead) to communicate with the satellite. In-universe, terrorists fucking with satellites is common enough to warrant more security than the iridium network could provide.
Either way you're gonna need an uplink dish and somehow communicate with the physical control module which is likely very proprietary. Very very few satellite dishes are capable of broadcasting to a satellite in geostationary orbit and they usually have a cone sticking out of the middle, so if you do any art don't go all "The Arrival" and use a standard C-band dish.
Jack Thompson
Sauce on anime?
Brayden Williams
Been done. >ben bova "powersat"
Kayden Anderson
> Very very few satellite dishes are capable of broadcasting to a satellite in geostationary orbit And yet sat phones can do it. Amazing, isn't it?
Brandon Scott
I'd like sauce too
Oliver Morgan
Let me be clear: I'm not trying to tear you down. I honestly hope your story turns out in such a way that you can be proud of it. My point was really that if it's going to be a work of fiction, there are so many things you'll have to 'hand wave' away with "that's just how the world is in this setting" that you might as well not get too hung up on the realism of the satellite hacking in the first place. If you're not worried about aerospace engineering folks going "well that's not how that works!", Why worry about someone going "that's not how you hack a satellite irl"
Christian Gonzalez
Except they don't.
Well, MOST don't. First, let's get something out of the way: when talking about satellites it's not "geostationary", it's "geosynchronous". They're not the same thing. Satellites don't all follow a singular path around the equator (geostationary) and have varying inclinations all around the planet (geosynchronous). Most satellites aren't even geosynchronous, though, as the 'geos' are HEOs or "High Earth Orbits", where most satellites are LEOs (Low Earth Orbits)... Anyway, the point is, most satellite phones connect to LEO satellites rather than HEO but the ones that do connect to HEOs still aren't connecting to something geostationary, they're connecting to ones that are geosynchronous.
Michael Stewart
Be careful that you don't get bogged down in the tech and lose sight of the argument. You may pull in a lot of autistic readers but will lose a large part of the fanbase.
Isaac Robinson
lol you know satellites are fake right?
Charles Powell
In this case distinction between geostationary and geosynchronous is irrelevant and operators like Inmarsat and Thuraya provide service for hand-held phones, so my point stands. Anyway claim that you need some super duper satellite dish to broadcast to geostationary orbit is bullshit.
Christopher Kelly
fuck off russia
Henry Cooper
That, I can agree with. You don't need some magical Arecibo sized dish to transmit to a satellite in HEO. Logistically, it's really easy to transmit to LEO, MEO and HEO satellites as well as transmitting to a LEO site from a weak terminal and then bounce to the nearest MEO or HEO with unobstructed LoS. Like, say you need to connect to HEO with a really weak terminal, or there's no direct LoS to the HEO, you can transmit to the nearest LEO, which can then transmit to a nearby MEO/HEO sat that the LEO has LoS of that you don't.
I think the issue is that people try to make it into some magical technology. It's basically just like any other transmission medium. Like when you post to Jow Forums, your computer isn't plugged directly into the Jow Forums servers... There's multiple 'hops' connecting your computer to the servers. Satellites are no different, they're just orbiting the planet rather than being stationary machines.
James Hernandez
Gundam 0079.
Kayden Hill
Thanks, I don't think you're trying to tear me down and even then all criticism is welcome. I'm trying to keep handwaves down to 'muh fusion', which would solve the escape velocity issue. What issues did you find, aerospace wise? I've actually done some research on that, so I would like to know if I missed anything.
I hate technobabble and do everything I can to avoid it. This is probably going to be a webcomic btw.
Fucking Japanese satellites man, they are the size of a whole city and built out of Nintendium just so they an survive not crumbling at atmospheric entry for the sake of pulverizing a city for our entertainment.
