Shooting down 'Bandit Satellites'

[An Metet]

[Sorry about the name. "Pirate" satellites don't sound 'dangerous' 
enough to need shooting down.]


Suppose can-sats WERE launched illegally, and then started broadcasting 
<time synchronisation signals/OTP/other cypherpunk related> signals, 
along with a spoken commentary by Radio Free North America (so Joe 
Sixpack has an excuse when those nice detector van gentlemen knock on 
his door and ask why he's listening to 128.0 FM) 

What could a the US Government do about the satellite, other than make 
an example out of the miscreants who launched it?
Would they be able to physically shoot at it, jam its signal or burn 
out its electronics from the ground or aircraft altitude? Could someone 
put up enough disposable 'bandit-sats' (expecting to make less orbits 
than Sputnik) over time to make it uneconomical to keep shooting them 
out of the sky?

How easy would it be for the launch crew to stay ahead of ground based 
forces? I'm guessing they could mount rockets one to two months ahead 
of launch date and abandon the site, assuming the rockets don't need 
constant attention. Would directional transmissions from ground to 
satellite be traceable (and would this depend on whether there are 
other birds in the part of the sky I want to send to)?
Would retrieval of a returned film capsule be possible before Air 
Force helicopters descended on the landing site?


Cliff Secord.

--
Sealand's latitude, and a map from the old Sealand pages at:
<http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/factfile.html>

	Sealand is located in the southern part of the North Sea some 
	six miles off the coast of Britain and from sixty-five to one 
	hundred miles from the coasts of France, Belgium, Holland and 
	Germany; Latitude 51.53 N, Longitude 01.28 E (see map).
 	<http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/map.html>