"A 10-ton Truck Traveling at 600 mph”

Last cover of the Space International magazine n°4, out in January 2024. Here I've depicted an American SM-3 Block IIA missile in terminal interception phase on a Russian Bars-M military observation and reconnaissance satellite operating on a 498 km altitude apogee orbit. Developed jointly by the USA and Japan, the SM-3 Block IIA is the latest evolution of the SM-3, which is the armed wing of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. Featuring a more powerful rocket motor installed in a larger fuselage, an improved terminal guidance system and a kinetic warhead, the Block IIA retains, like its predecessor, a strike capability against low-orbit space targets.

For reasons of dynamism and color scheme, we have decided to speed up the intercept sequence by merging the second-stage boost phase, the detachment of the fairing and the final corrections by the lateral thrusters.