I did a little bit of research this morning to clear up my personal confusion over the Chinese anti-satelitte test (ASAT), where in China destroyed an aging weather satelitte. While initially we reported that the satelitte was shot down with a laser, subsequent reports have repeatedly called the satelitte destroyer a ballistic missile. One of my main points of confusion is that Chinese anti-satelitte laser capabilities have been previously suspected by the US intelligence community and from strategypage.com. It is suspected that during the Fall of 2006 China used a laser to 'illuminate' a US military satelitte.

However, the current ASAT does appear to have been ballistic missile oriented, as pointed out by posters on slashdot.org and digg.com. As the people on slashdot and digg point out, the article that I linked to notes that the satelitte was destroyed by a 'kinetic kill vehicle', which doesn't sound very laser-like. Perhaps a laser was used for guidance? Only the Chinese know for sure at this point.

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