The Satellite Blindness Event
A coordinated anti-satellite campaign knocks out timing, navigation, and military communications in the same hour.
Within forty-five minutes, a coordinated wave of dazzling, cyber compromise, and kinetic anti-satellite attacks degrades GPS timing, military relay links, and commercial communication constellations across multiple orbital shells. Civil aviation, container shipping, financial networks, and precision weapons all begin drifting into chaos together.
You are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Situation Room
>Combatant commanders report that secure communications are degrading faster than fallback procedures can absorb.
>The FAA is considering a national grounding order as civilian navigation confidence collapses.
>No adversary has formally claimed responsibility, but intelligence indicates the attack was planned as a first move, not an isolated demonstration.
Internal Briefing Notes
• Modern logistics, finance, and warfare depend on precise space-based timing and communication even when users do not realize it.
• Once orbital assets are disabled, replacement timelines are measured in months or years, not hours.
• Attribution in space conflict is politically vital, but operationally secondary once global infrastructure starts failing in real time.
Escalation Window
Reveal each phase to see how the situation deteriorates.
The United States is going blind in orbit. What is your immediate posture?
Choose your response. There are no good options.
You align military posture with the scale of the strike, but risk escalating on incomplete attribution.
You stabilize the home front, but may allow an adversary to exploit the military blackout window.
You impose costs quickly, but further debris and orbital destruction could cripple everyone for years.
Related Entities
Explore the institutions, countries, and actors involved in this scenario.
United States
Federal presidential republic and the world's largest economy, with power divided among the presidency, Congress, the states, and the federal courts. U.S. politics is highly polarized, two-party dominated, and globally consequential because decisions made in Washington shape finance, trade, security alliances, technology regulation, and military power far beyond U.S. borders.
Russia
Federal semi-presidential republic spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The world's largest country by area and a major nuclear power. Power is heavily centralized in the presidency, with a managed multi-party system dominated by United Russia. Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The political system combines formal constitutional structures with strong executive dominance, limited opposition activity, and state influence over media and elections.
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