NOAH SHACHTMAN looks at antiterrorism efforts in space:

It’s a mission MacGyver would love. Three or four times a year, small groups of junior officers gather at an Air Force Research Laboratory facility in New Mexico and try to figure out how to take down an American satellite using nothing more than sweet talk and off-the-shelf gear.

The U.S. military relies on satellites to relay orders, guide precision bombs and direct flying drones. But those multibillion-dollar systems can be surprisingly vulnerable to the simplest of attacks. So, it’s up to the members of the Space Countermeasures Hands On Program—Space CHOP, for short—to find those weaknesses before enemies have a chance to crack them.

Glad to see they’re working on that.