[[CommandAndConquer http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ioncannonzl5.jpg]]
[[caption-width:400:[[MostWonderfulSound Ion cannon ready]].]]

->''In war, one should seek to take and hold the high ground. From there, the enemy's movements are clearly visible, and he will struggle just to reach you, let alone fight you. High orbit is the highest ground there is.''\\
-- '''[[BigBookOfWar The Codex Astartes]]''', ''{{Warhammer 40000}}''

When it absolutely, positively, has to be destroyed on time, nothing beats your own remote-controlled, satellite-mounted laser cannon.

A variation of the "WaveMotionGun", {{Kill Sat}}s have the added advantage that you don't need to be anywhere near either the weapon or the target. Instead, you can fire it from the safety of your headquarters: your satellite will move into position and unleash a shiny descending PillarOfLight on your unsuspecting target. Power/accuracy on Kill Sats vary, ranging from "lone vehicle" to "entire building" to (rarely) "town or small city." [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet busters]] are another category entirely, as firing them remotely from ''anywhere'' on the surface is inadvisable.

Since it's considered poor form to snipe your opponent from such a risk-free distance, Kill Sats are generally the realm of villains. So-called good guys who [[NukeEm resort to these]] will, at best, [[TheWorfBarrage fail miserably]]. If EverythingIsOnline in their world (and you know it is), there is always the risk of control falling into the wrong hands. In video games, Kill Sats are frequently used by the good guys (ie the player) but usually requiring some sort of targeting system on the ground in the vicinity of the target (distance varies from a few meters to a few miles). If the good guys ''do'' have one, its precision and accuracy are emphasized, often by providing the bad guys with a less precise weapon of equivalent power (such as a nuclear missile).

Of course, in the hands of either side, it would end the story in a hurry if these could be used repeatedly -- none of the opposing side could poke their nose into the open without risking vaporization. Therefore:
* It's prohibitively expensive, time-intensive, and/or just plain difficult to get it moved over the target and charged, making it something that can't be used regularly or that can be avoided.
* Or ItOnlyWorksOnce, because there was only enough power/ammo to fire it the one time, or because the heroes sabotage it or its control system before the villains can shoot again.
* Or, most often, some combination of the two, the former giving the opportunity for the heroes to do the latter.

Alternatively, it's not active at all yet, in which case the story centers around making sure it never gets off its first shot. In these cases it generally leans toward [[WeaponOfMassDestruction the powerful end of the scale]].

Kill Sats sometimes display the orbital properties of their more benign counterparts, the SpySatellites, able to move themselves over any target in record time and then park themselves there to get off as many shots as they please. More often, thankfully, the writers actually pay attention to how satellites work and incorporate that into the plot ("we've got two hours to destroy the control center before the satellite is in position over our headquarters!")

Any villain seeking to get their private space program off the ground (pun most definitely intended) is probably doing so to put one of these bad boys in orbit ([[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20030430.html never mind what it actually gets used for]]). Spy villains love these things. The AncientConspiracy may already have a full network of DeathRay Sats secretly in orbit, but they're careful about using it regularly, lest someone catch on.

The StandardSciFiFleet can and will take this UpToEleven, with the heavier ships turning their guns on a helpless planet below.

An early test fire of these may create the DoomedHometown.

The trope name is a parody of "[=TelSat=]", the TV satellite system.

A popular way to rain DeathFromAbove.

The Kill Sat is fundamentally a tool of modern societies:
* They make perfect fences for CardboardPrison islands, in which case entire movie plot is about defeating it or most often about struggle to find 8mm bolt to finish submarine.
* [[SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes Advanced civilisations spurn weapons that can target things outside their visual range]].

----
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* SOL in ''{{Akira}}''. Impressively, it got off several blasts in a short period (albeit poorly aimed) and probably could have kept it up all day if it hadn't been blown out of the sky by Tetsuo after he'd lost his right arm to the satellite.
** Technically, when Tetsuo flew up to it, he screwed with the controls and forced it to fire several times before bringing it down, which is why the two shots aimed at him had pinpoint accuracy, while the others fired when he was standing on it seemed to hit random locations in Neo-Tokyo.
* ''{{Battle Programmer Shirase}}'' has a technique called "Three Sisters Deathblow", where three scrapped Cosmos satellites are programmed for re-entry. The first two serve to shield the third from atmospheric heat, so that it can enter the atmosphere intact and precisely hit a target on the ground (or sea).
* One of the major subplots in the original ''BubblegumCrisis'' revolved around a {{MacGuffin}} which would allow a [[ArtificialHuman Boomer]] to gain control of the military's network of {{Kill Sat}}s.
* The first anime Kill Sat was in ''Cat's Eye'', but they got the idea from ''DiamondsAreForever''.
* The Damocles from ''CodeGeass''. Technically not a satellite but a floating fortress armed with a cannon that shoots [[SphereOfDestruction FLEIA warheads]], but since it was supposed to be flown out of the atmosphere and placed on a geosynchronous orbit, it fulfills all the criteria for a KillSat (it's in space, it rains doom on people).
* The ''CowboyBebop'' episode "Jamming With Edward" featured a network of satellite-mounted lasers. They were built in an attempt to reduce the severity of meteor showers after [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the moon was destroyed]] by the [[PhlebotinumBreakdown hyperspace gate explosion.]] During the story, an [[InstantAIJustAddWater A.I. which evolved in the network]] used them to carve graffiti on unoccupied areas of the planet surface. And then automated defense programs activated when Spike came to collect a bounty on it and tried to blast his fighter...
* Mikawa Kai uses a NASA Kill Sat in an effort to destroy the "Terminator" in ''SetoNoHanayome''.
* Used in ''{{Nadia the Secret of Blue Water}}''. Especially impressive considering the series takes place in the 19th century (the satellite was Atlantean technology).
* The original ''Sol Bianca'' OAV cheats a little, when Feb hides herself on an orbiting Space Ring with a ''very'' long-ranged [[{{BFG}} laser sniper rifle]] to help her friends escape from their own execution.
* ''Gall Force'' ups the scale considerably with [[ThatsNoMoon a planet-sized energy cannon]] orbiting the sun.
* Artemis, the trump card for the Searrs Foundation in ''{{Mai-HiME}}'', is actually a meaningfully-named gigantic ''[[{{Mons}} Mon]]'' in orbit.
* A pin-point precise version of this goes haywire in the ''AllPurposeCulturalCatGirlNukuNuku'' [=OAV=].
* The Saint's Cradle of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', capable of directed planetary bombardment and inter-dimensional attacks once it positions itself in the orbits of the two moons. The final mission of the third season was to prevent it from reaching space before the TSAB fleet could arrive and destroy it.
* The [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs Radam-occupied]] Orbital Ring around Earth in ''Tekkaman Blade'' is used for orbital bombardment in several episodes.
* ''{{Gintama}}'', naturally, featured a comedic variation: Otae actually uses one of these in an episode as protection against Kondou stalking outside her dojo, along with spiked fences and pratfalls.
* ''OnePiece'''s Enel does this as his strongest attack.
* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' included a Kill Sat angel. Eva being Eva, it fired a MindRape beam at you to the tune of the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's ''Messiah''. Asuka was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of said beam, and needless to say, [[HeroicBSOD the results were not pretty]].
** There was another Kill Sat angel earlier in the series, one that dropped ''bits of itself'' down on the earth before trying to kill Tokyo-3 by ''crashing down on the city''. Living kamikaze killer satellite, anyone?
* The AMP in ''Silent Mobius'' has access to a Kill Sat, which seems to be privately owned by member Lebia Maverick. It also [[spoiler: acts as her second brain, providing a ridiculous amount of extra data storage]]. Its name is [[{{Disney}} Donald]].
* In the final episode of ''{{Mnemosyne}}'', TechnoWizard Mimi hijacks a Kill Sat belonging to her friend's [[MegaCorp company]] and uses it in an attempt to stop the BigBad's plan. [[spoiler:She fails.]]
* Subverted in the final episode of ''[[GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig]]'' when [[spoiler:the Tachikomas take control of the satellite containing the hardcopies of their collective [=AIs=] and move it into the path of a nuclear missile fired by an American Empire submarine in a noble act of cheerful self-sacrifice. This troper confesses to having a lump in his otherwise manly throat as this happened. This could be argued as an example of the SaveSat, perhaps the only one.]]
* ''FairyTail'' features the Aetherion, a magical version of this. It takes about an hour for the Council, an organization of the strongest wizards in the land, to charge up, and then it blasts down with the power of more than two billion, seven hundred million ideas of magical energy, which is about equivalent to the combined magical energies of all the wizards on the continent. According to one member of the Council, its destructive power is sufficient to wipe an entire country off the face of the planet. [[spoiler:Naturally, the arc's villain absorbs the magical energy so he can use it as a power battery for his spell to resurrect history's most infamous black mage.]]
** [[spoiler: Later we learn that the true purpose of the XanatosGambit behind the events of this StoryArc was to provoke the Council into such extreme action as firing the Aetherion, then reveal that they were fooled by the villain, thus undermining their authority.]]
* The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Death-Para Machine]] from ''TransformersSuperGodMasterforce'', which had the power to destroy Earth's ozone layer.
* {{Kill Sat}}s show up in many ''{{Gundam}}'' series, although they aren't quite as common as the ColonyDrop.
** ''{{Gundam 00}}'' has the Memento Mori.[[spoiler: Both of them.]]
** ''VictoryGundam'' has the Keilas Guilie.
** ''{{Gundam Wing}}'' has the Space Fortress Barge and Space Fortress Libra
** ''MobileSuitGundam'' has the Solar Ray
** ''ZetaGundam'' has the Gryps Colony Laser
** ''GundamX'' also has a colony laser
** ''GundamSEED'' has the GENESIS
** ''GundamSEEDDestiny'' has the Requiem and the [[spoiler:Neo-GENESIS]].
* GetterRobo features two of these, in HumongousMecha form. The first, from the ''Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo'' OVA dispenses countless meteorites over North America, some of which are so large that they function as drop pods for ''other'' HumongousMecha. The second is in the ''GetterRobo Go'' manga, and is of the laser variety. Though it can apparently fire multiple times in succession.
* ''MacrossPlus'' reveals that, decades after Space War I, Earth has upgraded its defenses with a network of ''hundreds of thousands'' of densely-packed, automated Kill Sats that serve a dual purpose: vaporize orbital debris before it falls into the atmosphere, and discouraging invasion from external forces. When [[TheAce Isamu]] has to navigate this network and force his way into Earth, his only hope is to shoot down a couple of communication sats, hide among the falling debris, and ''pray''. His companion has so little faith in their chances he just shuts himself off into hibernation.
* ''{{Dancougar}}'' handles this differently; the Kill Sat hits the ''sword'' of the titular machine, creating a gigantic laser sword for it to use.
* Securing the two keys of one of these was plot for the last third of the second season of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''; coincidentally, its owner duels with a deck built around his veritable love for Kill Sats.
** In the ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}!'' Cyber World filler arc, the guy who takes the form of Jinzo summons a monster which is a satellite cannon, which is quite a a pain to Kaiba until he finally summons BEWD and destroys it..
* In the sexy spy anime {{NajicaBlitzTactics}}, one of the android girls actually is the remote control for a killsat. Likely the most beautiful remote control ever.
* In Eureka seveN, Dewey Novak fires one called "Oratorio #8" once at the Scab Coral to make a hole for TheEND to fly through, and again to target the beacon TheEND placed on the Control Cluster. After the second shot, the thing self-destructed and STILL rained death down on the poor planet with its highly explosive debris.
* ''Shaman King'' has one of these which is used against the main villain Hao Asakura, but he is unhurt by it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* The penultimate issue of the ''GlobalFrequency'' comic is based around a preset plan by the US government to cause a population reduction by blasting a few major cities with {{Kill Sat}}s. These are kinetic harpoons, a single shot weapon mostly by virtue of being a fancy orbiting crossbow that fires an artificial diamond at enough speed that the kinetic energy goes off like a nuke when it strikes the ground.
* The last StoryArc of the original ''{{Grendel}}'' series features the Sun-Disk, a superweapon used only once (to level Japan and and a future cold war), before its creator disables it and dies.
* [[spoiler:Zodon's 'modifications' to the lunar lander]] in ''{{PS 238}}''.
* An orbital particle beam cannon shows up in ''{{Planetary}}''.
* ''{{Watchmen}}'' doesn't have kill sats, but one draft of the script for the movie did.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films]]
* The [[StarWars Death Star]]
* Dr. Evil's "Alan Parsons Project" in ''AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me''. He cheated a little by putting it on the Moon, but that's still in orbit.
* The Zeus space cannon in ''[=~Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within~=]''. Remember, never try to fire it twice in rapid succession.
* A recurring theme in ''JamesBond'' films:
** DiabolicalMastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld helped pioneer this trope in ''DiamondsAreForever''. Willard Whyte, a faintly disguised version of Howard Hughes, is a reclusive billionaire who supposedly put a satellite into orbit as part of his Aerospace operations, [[spoiler:only to discover it was actually Blofeld, impersonating Whyte, who is going to use the satellite's ability to focus the sun's light into a coherent beam and thus fire a laser anywhere on earth to attack important locations.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Blofeld:''' Oh, we can't fire it on Kansas, if we did it might be years before anyone noticed.]]
** The titular weapons in ''Goldeneye'' were single-shot EMP-based {{Kill Sat}}s. The first one is used to cover up the threat of the control codes at Severnaya by destroying the base. The BigBad plotted to use the second one to wipe out London (after a grand electronic bank raid), but was stopped by Bond and his [[GirlOfTheWeek Girl of the Movie]], Natalya.
** The villain in ''Die Another Day'' makes an orbital mirror that doubles as a Kill Sat.
* In ''RealGenius'', the lead characters are duped by their college professor into building a laser which is intended as the main weapon for a Kill Sat. They end up sabotaging the test to have it destroy the duplicitous professor's home.
** [[spoiler:With popcorn]]
* The plot of the Steven Seagal movie ''Under Siege 2'' revolves around a DiabolicalMastermind seizing control of a military Kill Sat and threatening to use it to blow up Washington, D.C. Bonus points are awarded since the DiabolicalMastermind was the one who had built the satellite for the government in the first place before [[NotQuiteDead faking his own death]].
** More bonus points are awarded for being a Kill Sat that shoots ''earthquakes''.
*** Extreme bonus points are awarded for being a Kill Sat that shoots ''earthquakes'' but still manages to destroy ostensibly high-flying ''bomber planes''.
* In ''{{Godzilla}} vs. Megaguirus'' a satellite is used to [[spoiler:attack Godzilla and barely manages to get off a shot on target before it burns up]]. The fact that it fired a solid projectile which took almost a minute to get to the ground against a notably fast-moving target makes one wonder why they bothered to put it orbit.
* ''Congo'' (1995) has a laser-powered satellite that is integral to the plot; the trope may actually be somewhat subverted here. (The book had them looking for ''diamonds'' to be used in ''next-generation semiconductors''; at no point did lasers come into it.)
* The protagonists in ''Space Cowboys'' go into space to fix what they're told is a communications satellite, only to find out it's an old Soviet Kill Sat armed with nuclear missiles and in danger of activating.
* In ''{{Antz}}'', a kid with a magnifying glass functions as the insect-sized version of this. He vaporizes one [[{{Mook}} soldier ant]] before chasing the protagonists down with a beam of sunlight. They get away, but end up hopelessly lost in the process.
* The ''Narada's'' drill from ''Film/StarTrek''. It seems to blast some kind of epic fire rather than an actual laser, but it can punch straight to the ''core of a planet''. [[spoiler:This turns out to be problematic for Vulcan, as it allows the Romulans to drop a ball of black-hole-creating matter to the core and literally make it implode.]] Something like that in the hands of an angry and [[OmnicidalManiac "particularly troubled"]] Romulans = NOT GOOD. Then again, [[BigBad Nero]] is possibly the best example of a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds in any film to come out in the last decade.
* In ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', Soundwave's alt mode is that of a satellite. Instead of normal projectiles, however, he fires other Decepticons, notably his minion Ravage.
* The stolen MacGuffin in ''Escape From L.A.'' is a control for a KillSat
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Silver Tower'' by DaleBrown. The title space station has a [[FrickinLaserBeams high energy laser weapon]] called Skybolt that's used to wipe out a swarm of Soviet cruise missiles and save an American naval fleet from destruction.
** Also worth mentioning his other original book (written around the same time as ''Silver Tower'') ''Flight of the Old Dog'', which involved the Russians with a nuclear powered laser in Siberia. Later, they deploy a mirror sat, and the American's deploy their own Kill Sat with X-Ray warheads in response.
* A very literal Kill Sat (and a rare occurrence of a Kill Sat being used by a good guy) is found in Jim Butcher's ''[[DresdenFiles Death Masks]]''. [[spoiler: Harry's mentor Ebenezar [=McCoy=] brings down an old Soviet satellite on the home of villainous vampire Paolo Ortega, killing him and his dozens of vampire subjects... as well as the humans they fed from.]]
* ''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'' by TomClancy had as a major plot point the simultaneous development of anti-satellite weapons by the US and the USSR. As the lasers were ground-located, they weren't technically {{Kill Sat}}s, but the US system included the ability to bounce the laser beam off of multiple orbiting mirrors, thus hitting any target on the planet. It worked, too, except that the laser was too weak to do much more than give the target a mild sunburn.
* The ''Nights Dawn'' trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton has planets surrounded by swarms of these, known as "Strategic Defense satellites". They usually are pointed outward to defend against attacks from space, but can be used against surface targets with devastating effects.
* LarryNiven's Ringworld is defended by a magnetically controlled X-Ray laser made by fluorescing sunspots, with a beam the width of Earth's moon.
* In ''Quicksilver'' by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, the titular satellite was intended to be a relatively harmless (to biological material) EMP blast, but instead caused some sort of [[{{Phlebotinium}} chain reaction]] which charged the air around the target to such a degree that hugely powerful bolts of lightning would strike the target instead.
* A Kill Sat named ODIN (Orbital Defence Initiative) appears in Philip Reeve's {{Mortal Engines}} quartet, particularly the fourth (and last) book.
* In Dan Simmons' ''Hyperion'', Fedmahn Kassad uses these to resolve a planet-wide hostage situation -- by simultaneously attacking all of the terrorist ringleaders at once. The leader of the terrorists is even killed on live television mid-SedgwickSpeech, for bonus points.
* ''Powersat'' by Ben Bova: a microwave power satellite is turned into a kill sat by a bunch of terrorists.
** A similar example happens in the ''StarWars'' novel ''[[XWingSeries Wedge's Gamble]]'', where Rogue Squadron remote- control-hijacks a solar mirror orbiting Imperial Centre. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity]] ([[StuffBlowingUp and explosions]]) [[HilarityEnsues ensue]].
*** Speaking of Star Wars, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Base_Delta_Zero Base Delta Zero]].
* This Troper once wrote a short story: [[http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=745552 Celestial Beings]] Where the leader of the normal humans has an ace up his sleeve just in case his opponent pulled some applied phlebonium out of his arse, a low orbit ion cannon piloted by a friend who went crazy and obsesses over the red button. It works, multiple times.
*DavidWeber's ''{{Safehold}}'' series: the planet Safehold's prohibition on advanced technology is enforced by orbital platforms that, if they detect power sources, will unleash a [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter kinetic bombardment]] capable of devastating a small continent. So far, no solution has been found.
*In a StarWars Expanded Universe novel, ''Shatterpoint'', a variation is used. Instead of the massive satellite firing a laser, it is thrown into the ground like a huge missile. Needless to say, a five ton chunk of metal hitting the ground at supersonic speeds causes quite a bit of damage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', "Endgame"; When Sheridan's forces arrive at Earth and easily overwhelm most of the remnants of EarthForce fleet, President Clarke kills himself, after programming the planet's orbital defense system to take all of Earth with him. This means Sheridan's fleet must destroy the satellites before they fire.
* The ''X-Files'' episode "Kill Switch" centered around a network of {{Kill Sat}}s, complete with a computer control system that [[InstantAIJustAddWater developed its own ideas]] about how to use it.
* In the ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "Ethon", the Ori supply one of these to the Rand Protectorate, one of two feuding governments on the world of Tegalus. [[spoiler:It ends up destroying Earth's first starship, the ''Prometheus''.]]
** Also, before the Ori, a network of Kill Sats is deployed ostensibly as a defense against ''external'' threats, but gets turned on terrestrial targets anyway as a scheme to TakeOverTheWorld. [[spoiler:By a ''main character''. But it was AllJustADream, intended to show him that YouAreNotReady.]]
** The Asuran use a Kill Sat against Atlantis on ''StargateAtlantis''. The Kill Sat itself is a big ship with a stargate embedded in it. The beam is fired on the asuran homeworld through a stargate, and out the other onto Atlantis.
* The 1978 ''{{Quatermass}}'' series (aka ''Quatermass IV'' or ''The Quatermass Conclusion'') featured an alien device that lured people into small areas and then engulfed them in a column of light. True Believers assumed that the light was transporting them to a better planet. No such luck. It was actually a kind of nasty and insidious form of Kill Sat, only just to make things worse there wasn't an actual satellite that could be shot down.
* The heroes of ''{{Angel}}'' are surprised and disturbed to find they have such a thing at their command (in the form of microwave laser satellites) after taking over Wolfram and Hart. Angel [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop considers using them to wipe out all the bad guys rather than continue to live as a corporate drone]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''Conspiracy X'', the remains of the former Soviet Russian secret organization "Project Rasputin" (merged with AEGIS and NASA after the fall of the Soviet Republic) grants its members access to the top-secret satellite "Alexis". Since Project Rasputin's mission was the study of psionic powers and to discover and train psychics, satellite Alexis was build around the world's largest psychotron. It could be moved into a geosynchronous position over any spot on Earth, although this took time and wasn't done on a whim, so you better needed a good reason and even better standing in your organization to request it. A crew of psychics (originally stationed on MIR, but Aegis later stationed them on Earth) trained in Greater Telepathy or Greater Bio-PK could charge the psychotron and use it to affect a designated spot on the Earth's surface or below it, with an area of effect ranging from one building to several square kilometers. Telepathy allowed mind probes or mind wipes, Bio-PK could be used to put all people in that area (except for Voids and Psinks) into a trance state. So technically speaking, Alexis was no killer satellite. But this editor thinks that, since the rules of the RPG allowed psychics with Bio-PK to learn how to kill with a thought by giving people aneurisms or heart attacks, it would have been possible to use Alexis as a weapon of mass destruction.
** For the more direct, NASA also had "GunStars" that would fire hockey-puck sized chunks of metal really fast at ground targets.
* In the old ''WorldOfDarkness'', the Technocracy had secret orbital satellites for spying, defense against alien incursions, you name it (as well as various research stations on Luna and some moons of Jupiter and at Lagrange points throughout the solar system, a defense parameter around Earth and Moon, a Dyson Sphere in Deep Space...). As revealed in the supplement ''Time of Thin Blood'', when an ancient vampire arose from slumber in India during the End Times and laid waste to Bangladesh the Technocracy executed "Code Ragnarök"; they finally managed to destroy the vampire by first stunning him with fusion bombs and then incinerating him with the help of a network of mirror satellites and a concentrated ray of sunlight from heaven.
* In ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'', '''Exterminatus''' is the command used by the Inquisition when demons or heresy spread too far across the planet to be contained by covert or even overt military action. All possible (or at least important) Imperial forces pull out, and the orbiting fleet blows the hell out of the planet in any of a wide variety of ways, ranging from glassing the surface with hundreds of multi-gigaton warheads and ship-based beam weapons, to bombs filled with viruses that turn all organic matter into sludge, and "cyclonic torpedoes" that ''light the atmosphere on fire'' in a rather Homeworldesque way. All of these methods aim for one thing: rendering life on the planet impossible.
** Even when you don't need to destroy the entire planet, the various factions aren't above shelling the battlefield from orbit.
** There is a giant defense system in Terra's solar system meant to defend it against enemy fleets thousands strong. It includes Kill Sats, moons that were hollowed out and made into bases, and a whole space fleet to name a few items.
** You're forgetting that -- this being ''Warhammer 40k'', that sometimes -- setting the atmosphere on fire, rendering organic matter into its constituent molecules or just plain old turning everything into molten slag JUST ISN'T ENOUGH... for this, there are two stage torpedoes which will actually blow a planet up.
*** ... no there aren't. ''Warhammer'' is limited to "melt world to molten slag" firepower, not "blow planet into smithereens" firepower.
*** That is massively incorrect. Ever heard of the Planet Killer? Or the Blackstone Fortresses? The latter can take out stars as well as planets.
**** Those are special weapons which are not standard issue for your average Segmentum fleets.
** The former is an impossible engine of war that exists in a few dimensions we don't know of and the latter were built by a god. They are most certainly the exception to the rule rather than the citation. That said, enough ships can reduce a planet to rubble (Caliban), it just takes a lot more than a single weapon.
** This troper is quite confident that cyclonic torpedoes are the ones that bore deep down the surface and detonate to disrupt the tectonic plates of a planet, causing massive volcanic eruptions and continent-shattering earthquakes etc. The above mentioned planet-wide firestorms are the result of extensive virus bombing (with the aptly-named "Life Eater" virus): When a planet worth of organic matter rapidly decays, it releases ''a lot'' of volatile gases, which can then be ignited from orbit by any type of weapon.
*** That is correct. The cyclonic torpedoes cracks the surface and mantle of the planet and the virus bombs incinerates all organic life by first melting them into slag and then igniting all the gasses they release into planet-wide firestorms. While you will rarely see a EarthShatteringKaboom in 40k, there are stil plenty of ways to wipe out all of civilization from orbit. It should also be noted that Exterminatus is ''extremely'' rare since it makes any future use of the planet close to impossible. Since the Imperium thinks in decades ahead, they find it far better to just abandon a planet in most cases and come back for it later when they have amassed a new army.
* In ''{{Shadowrun}}'', "Thor shots" are Kill Sats that fire space junk at the target. It has similar power to a nuclear device and is treated as such. Orbital lasers also exist, and one was used on the dragon Alamais. He survived.
* The Fist of Shiva from the ''FengShui'' supplement "Seed of the New Flesh" is a Buro weather control satellite that doubles as a Kill Sat. In the adventure that features it, the players have to forge an alliance between all the other factions in order to commandeer a space shuttle, take over the Fist of Shiva, and use it to destroy the Buro-controlled 2056-era Vatican in order to wipe out not only a powerful Buro feng shui site, but also to stop the Buro from using their new Transworld Maglev Network to make the site the most powerful in the world and warping the world's chi to an unimaginable degree.
* ''Dungeons & Dragons'' has a spell called "Apocalypse from the Sky". Guess what it does...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[NintendoWars Advance Wars]] Dual Strike'' features a Kill Sat called the Black Onyx on the level ''Crystal Calamity''. Its primary purpose is to create a barrier around [[TheDragon Kindle]]'s main source of power -- a large crystal that turns the land into desert while creating energy. The Black Onyx also features a potent laser beam.
** Spin-off ''Battalion Wars'' features a good guy version -- the Doomsday Weapon used by the Solar Empire to put an end to the Iron Legion in the game's backstory.
* [[spoiler: Belcrant]] in TalesOfDestiny [[spoiler: It was used to fire on the earth to absorb pieces of it to create the Aethersphere]]
* In ''Warzone 2100'', the main antagonist (a self-aware computer virus called NEXUS) eventually powers up his laser satellites against the player during the final mission as at this point all of his systems are now back online.
* ''FinalFantasyVII'' has no less than two versions of this trope. One was the "Bahamut ZERO" summon (though it was less a satellite and more a giant dragon blasting the enemy from orbit), and the other was one of Barret's level three limit breaks called "Satellite Beam", which does exactly what the name suggests.
** ''FinalFantasyIX'' has another summons that seems to do much the same thing, Ark, complete with mystical targeting electronics readouts.
** ''FinalFantasyXII'' has yet another in the form of the Holy summon Ultima, who fires a beam from space via a cannon mounted below herself from space, as a finishing move.
*** But even before that, Ultima did it in ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance''.
*** The Ultima summon in FFTA did MP damage, however. It's massively disappointing to see a gigantic shell smash into they enemy, causing an explosion of magical force, only to see nobody at all physically harmed, let alone reduced to a pair of smoldering boots.
* A rare example of the good guys using one: the GDI's Ion Cannon in ''CommandAndConquer''. Since Nod's equivalent uberweapon is a tactical nuclear missile, the cannon looks fairly tame by comparison and the GDI can remain sufficiently heroic even while using it. Also, to gamers' considerable surprise, GDI acts completely sensibly in the plot: Makes an awful lot of them, decorates them with point defenses and anti-missile systems, and vapes Nod whenever it raises its head. It is further used to stop attacks on the orbital assets of GDI all by itself, not counting its point defense. Also of note is that this system has advanced from 'take out a vehicle or a small building' in C&C to 'annihilate an entire base' in C&C3. (Although a cutscene in the first game had it take out a small town/base, and another where it destroys a bigger base, a power level not seen anywhere else in the game. One of the few cases of CutscenePowerToTheMax that aren't applied to a character.) Very explicitly intended to be the Light Of God, judging by how Kane embraces it in the closing video of the first game as it blows his temple to pieces.
** There is no such thing as perfectly good guys or bad guys in CNC...
*** It is interesting to note that the Brotherhood gains access to the cannon network in all three games, even to the point where you can blow up an important world symbol.
** What, no mention of GDI getting a bit too trigger happy, unnecessarily shooting the Ion Cannon at the enemy HQ and, nearly, dooming the plane to being conquered by alliens? Not to mention that the explosion fallout, itself was bad enough.
* A Kill Sat similar to the Ion Cannon called the "Particle Beam Cannon" is used by the Americans in ''Command and Conquer Generals''. Again, this makes the Americans look quite tame, considering the Chinese WeaponOfMassDestruction is a SlapOnTheWristNuke, and even more so when the GLA's superweapon is a volley of SCUD missiles packed with anthrax.
** This is actually a bit of an inversion, as the cannon itself is built on the ''ground'', and the satellite is used to reflect the beam back down to the target.
** The Soviets of ''Red Alert 3'' have a variation of this, where rather than satellites firing lasers or whatnot, satellites ''themselves'' are dropped from the sky to bombard enemies with.
*** What? No mention of their other Kill Sat? You know, the one that uses magnets to pull metal stuff into orbit, then dump them back on the enemy along with the above-mentioned satellites?
** The Allies get a weapon called the Athena Cannon, which is a truck that laser designates targets for an orbital kill sat. The scary thing is, you can have dozens of the trucks and they all appear to have their own attached satellite.
** The particle cannon might not be exceptionally powerful, but I'd like to see you try to [[CherryTapping burn a message into the enemy's base with a nuke]].
*** It's possible. You just have to write in really big letters.
* Further video game examples include ''Gears of War'', where it's still the good guys, and ''Unreal Tournament 2k3'' and ''2k4'', where it's in the context of a deathmatch tournament, so neither villains nor heroes are really using it per se. The Gears version is somewhat more limited than usual for this trope, as it requires a grunt on the ground to 'paint' the target using a handheld laser gun from close range, and getting into a position it can reach while it's overhead plays a part in the stages where it's used.
** Worth noting is the ''Gears'' Kill Sat only works in certain weather conditions -- it's how they explain it only being used occasionally.
*** Also worth noting is that the Government in ''Gears'' deliberately Kill Satted most of the planet to stem the Locust invasion, which is the major reason for all the SceneryGorn.
* Kefka's Light of Judgment in ''FinalFantasyVI'' wasn't orbital, but it could still hit any point on the planet, so it gets honorable mention.
* Ragnarok in ''MegaManZero 4'' was built for BigBad Dr. Weil to use as a Kill Sat. [[spoiler:After Craft does a HeelFaceTurn and wrecks the control room, Dr. Weil then uses it for a ColonyDrop. Zero [[HeroicSacrifice destroys the satellite, with himself still in it]]]].
** Earlier, in ''MegaManX 4'', the Final Weapon satellite was such a Kill Sat that Sigma was trying to use to destroy the Earth.
** And in ''MegaManLegends'', the BigBad threatens to use one to wipe all carbon-based lifeforms from the island the game is located on.
* Another Rare hero example is in MetalMaxReturns the only problem is activating the program that allows you to trigger it using your [[ShoutOut BS Controller]]
* In the GBA version of ''Shining Force'', the hero gains a spell called "Supernova", which the flavor text implies is a Kill Sat beam. In fact, all magic is [[RetCon described]] as being [[MagiTek provided by satellites]].
* In ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Adventure 2]]'', the bad guys take control of the Space Colony ARK and threaten to use the planet-piercing Eclipse Cannon on the populace, demonstrating its power by using it to destroy half of the moon. Fortunately, the heroes managed to short-circuit the system in time to prevent the planet's destruction (what [[ColonyDrop happened afterwards]] is a different story).
** It was revealed in ''ShadowTheHedgehog'' that the Cannon was created for a noble purpose: to destroy the malevolent alien Black Comet so that it could not enslave humanity.
*** Incidentally, ''Shadow the Hedgehog'' also featured a "Satellite Laser" weapon as one of several rewards for beating the game; this was a targeting beam for what was presumably an orbital laser satellite. There's a significant delay before firing, during which the target often moves away, which is probably why the laser doesn't see more use by the heroes.
** Another Kill Sat in the Sonicverse, except much more malicious, would be the one Eggman used in ''SonicUnleashed'' to break the planet open and [[SealedEvilInACan release Dark Gaia from within]]. The power source for this laser? [[SuperMode Super Sonic]].
* The heroes in ''TimeCrisis II'' are fighting to foil a plot to launch a nuclear equipped military satellite. A prototype copy of the satellite features as the final boss, and is equipped with rockets, a laser and a guy in glasses perching on top with a pistol.
* The Satellite Rain weapon in ''Syndicate Wars'' drops a [[AllThereInTheManual tungsten-uranium alloy rod]] which melts into ten "raindrops", each a couple of seconds apart. While it ''can'' level buildings and looks ''really'' impressive, so does a regular land mine.
* The ''ArmoredCore'' series has the Justice cannon, a space-based laser cannon which, to this writer's knowledge, fired once, charring the surface of Earth and forcing humanity underground and to Mars in order to survive. Later, someone attempts to fire it again, and the player must take the fight down the barrel of the cannon to stop it from annihilating the planet.
** This fight, by the way, is between robots that are at least fifty, and probably closer to one hundred feet tall. And they fight down the barrel of a space gun that takes a full three seconds of flight to reach the top of. That is a ''[[{{BFG}} big f**king gun]].''
** In ''Armored Core: Silent Line'', a Kill Sat takes out anything that crosses the titular boundary. In ''Armored Core: For Answer'', its revealed that there are ''so goddamn many'' of these cannons in Earth Orbit that its become ''impossible to reach space''.
* Subverted in ''[=~Another Century's Episode~=] 2'', a spinoff of ''SuperRobotWars''. The rival's HumongousMecha has access to a network of Kill Sats, but curiously never uses its full force just to wipe out the player's characters. That's because [[spoiler: the rival is actually the main character's partner/love interest, who faked her death to pilot said mecha in order to prevent an alien invasion (here, the Zentraedi from ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross'')). She tries to prevent the hero from using the Kill Sats because they run off the pilot's life force; the amount of power required to stop the Zentraedi would cost one pilot his/her life.]] Eventually the main character's mecha unlocks access to the Kill Sats by accident, and he [[spoiler: convinces his partner that they should fight the Zentraedi together, so neither one of them has to die, which of course causes her to switch back to your side.]]
** As an added bonus linked to the storyline aspect of the Guardian Kill Sat, using the full power of the attack did damage to the user, making the Gunark and Buster Ark the only units in the game that could kill themselves.
* The Space Marine Force Commander's special ability in ''DawnOfWar'' allows him to call in supporting fire from his Battle Barge in orbit.
** ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: DawnOfWar: Soulstorm'' has the Tau turn a natural satellite into a Kill Sat. As in, they built a cannon capable of firing across the system's interplanetary distances on a moon. Flee not, spoilerphobes! This is told to you in the very first campaign cinematic!
*** Mind, Soulstorm being as buggy as it is, said Kill Sat doesn't actually ''do'' anything.
**** Though, when you fight the mission on that map, you can take control of it to damage enemy units. A similar thing can be done in the Space Marine base in Dark Crusade.
**** Imperial Guard can defeat Space Marines almost instantly by clearing fog of war and targeting their critical building with captured orbital relay.
** In DawnOfWar 2, the Orbital Bombardment ability for Space Marine players is essentially three lasers hitting the area of your target. Devastating to anything that gets hit.
* The last few missions of the first ''{{Crusader}}'' game involve striking at an orbital defense platform which controls a network of nuclear-armed satellites.
* ''DinoCrisis II'' has one of the protagonists activating a satellite to vaporize a gigantic dinosaur.
* ''StreetFighter Alpha 3'' had this as one use of the Psycho Drive, apparently. Also, Karin Kanzuki's ending has her calling in a family favour and using their own Kill Sat (the first time this troper had come across the term!) to blow up the Shadaloo base.
* The ''GoldenSun'' games had a fair few summons that did this -- and, being summons, they could naturally target anywhere you happened to be battling, even inside caves or buildings -- but as far as this troper recalls, only Eclipse (a dragon?!) was in space at the time.
** Not even close. Isis definitely was, and there were a few others that called down objects from space -- the summon Meteor and the very similar-looking special attack Megiddo (critical for the weapon Sol Blade). Don't know if the latter two count because they're not firing lasers out of space, but you actually see the earth and the lasers coming from space in Isis's attack.
* In ''{{Snatcher}}'', the Snatchers' final stronghold is destroyed by one of these in the game's climax.
** It took out [[spoiler: Random]] too. Painfully, a commenter on Slowbeef's LetsPlay of the game said, "Oh, as if [[spoiler: Random]] [[FunnyAneurysmMoment could be taken out by anything shy of orbital bombardment]]." Ow.
* As a affectionate parody of Bond villains it shouldn't be too surprising that your goal in ''Evil Genius'' is to launch one of three Kill Sats to blackmail world leaders into total surrender. It works.
* In the upcoming RTS ''Tom Clancy's EndWar'', both the American Joint Strike Force and the European Enforcers Corps have access to Kill Sat technology. The latter have your usual laser satellite tech, while the former have kinetic impactors, aka "Rods from God."
* In ''StarWars: Jedi Starfighter'', one of the protagonists gains access to a giant space laser, described by some as a "mini-Death Star" which can be targeted to vaporize, well, just about anything.
** That's a planetary class orbital turbo laser. It was designed initially to be mounted on the ground (remember that ion can/big white ball from Hoth? That's the ion cannon version) to shoot down incoming capitol ships. This one was just turned into a kill sat.
* The {{BFG}} of ''[[RatchetAndClank Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'' is the Harbinger, which scatters targets all over the battlefield, which are then quickly followed by beams of light blasting those spots.
* The RailShooter ''Confidential Mission'' revolved around recovering control of a laser satellite from the BigBad. Which you do. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard And then you fire it at his escape submarine.]]
* ''{{Civilization}}: Call to Power'' was a Civilization-style game that included the ability to build space-based weapons and cities. One of these weapons was, for all intents and purposes, a high-powered Kill Sat that could hit anything on the ground with near impunity. It's a shame that the game was never completely debugged....
* Top-down shmup ''Sonic Wings'' features a barrage of orbital lasers presumably from satellites as the special weapon of one of the playable characters. Video games seem to like to give these to good guys and bad in equal measure.
* In the anime-style fighting game ''EvilZone'', MetalHeroes parody Danzaiver's LimitBreak has him calling upon a Kill Sat to strike at his enemy from orbit, complete with cutaway to the satellite itself. [[SlapOnTheWristNuke It's not as painful as it sounds.]]
** It should be noted, however, that this technique is actually a ''grappling maneuver'', which takes the concept to an unforseen level of ridiculous.
* ''ParasiteEve II'' contains a Kill Sat that fires what seem to be kinetic projectiles down [[NukeEm on the entire main setting, acting as a last resort when containment looks unlikely.]]
* The GULF satellite in ''WinBack''.
* In Jack's ending in ''{{Tekken}} 2'', he is destroyed by a Kill Sat in front of young Jane. In his ''{{Tekken}} 3'' ending, he is carrying adult Jane on his shoulder, when Dr. Abel tries to do the same thing, but he protects her and himself with a [[DeflectorShields force field]].
* In ''SengokuBasara'', Nohime has this as her LimitBreak, summoning the Oda Mon as beacons with pillars of lights coming from the sky.
* The expansion pack for ''SupremeCommander'' gives these to the UEF. They aren't particularly powerful, but given enough resources, you can use a group of them to pick off enemies with impunity.
* In ''{{Zone of the Enders}}'', BARAM turns Mars' moon, Deimos, into a Kill Sat based on the Urenbeck Catapult, a form of space-compression power slingshot. [[spoiler:'Course, then it turns out the real use is to ''not'' fire it, and let the overload blow a hole in space/time three times the size of the solar system.]]
* ''[[http://gunbound.ijji.com/ Gunbound]]'' has two. First, the mobile E. Sate has a Kill Sat as its normal attack, though it doesn't as much fly through space as hover above it's head. However, there's the giant Kill Sat named Thor that hovers above the stage, adding damage to attacks on certain turns, and becoming stronger as it deals more damage. The two of them together is a sight to see.
** Then there's the Aduka, whose secondary weapon is specifically designed to call down the Thor. A 4v4 match where ''everyone'' is piloting an Aduka... yeah, everyone's in for a lot of pain.
* The first [[LimitBreak Support Character]] you earn in ''PennyArcadeAdventures: [[LongTitle On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness]]: Episode 2'' is a 14-year old girl. With a steampunk Kill Sat.
* LARS from the car combat game ''Interstate '82'' which is possibly the first video game weapon that's more effective in the hands of the player than the AI.
* ''[[TheKingOfFighters King of Fighters 2000]]'' has the Zero Cannon, a Kill Sat created by the NESTS group, powered by fight energy, but stolen by the renegade Clone Zero, who desires to use it against them. While it fails to destroy NESTS, it does succeed in nuking Southtown. Its later destroyed by Kula Diamond.
* Reversed in ''{{Halo}}'', where human planets are defended by Orbital Defense Platforms, massive railguns that fire 3000-ton slugs at up to 40% the speed of light at incoming enemy warships.
** That system is talked about in the Halo 2 announcement trailer where there is a debate between a general on the ground wanting those platforms to be used as Kill Sats against the already-landed invasion forces, and the admiral in orbit trying to hold off the Covenant fleet:
-->"I'm asking you to re-target the orbitals!"\\
"And let more of them sweep the kill zone? That's insanity! There's nothing more I can do!"
** The smaller [[WaveMotionGun MAC Gun]] of the CoolShip ''Spirit of Fire'' in ''Halo Wars'' can be used as a more conventional, if ad hoc, Kill Sat. On the other hand, Covenant ground forces can call upon their own ships in orbit to deliver plasma bombardment or 'glassing' on their enemy.
* Several of the ''TwistedMetal'' games feature a weapon of this type.
* ''ResidentEvil 5'', in a seemingly desperate attempt to fit possibly every trope ever into one game, gave you a Kill Sat to fight one giant boss, that came with an "L.T.D."(short for Laser Targeting Device), which was effectively an empty bazooka with a laser attached to it, a la ''Gears of War'''s Hammer of Dawn. It takes a while to lock on, so it's good to have a friend stun the orbs you aiming at (which, by the way, are the giant orbs of a GIANT version of [[spoiler: the Uroboros]] you fought four chapters ago). Of course, the recharge time is ridiculous, [[MostAnnoyingSound making a obnoxious sound when recharging]], and you can destroy the orbs you're aiming with bullets, but its great when you [[MostWonderfulSound hear the three quick beeps letting you know it stopped charging, and you can once again destroy whatever you lock on to.]]
* The fourth boss in the SNES version of ''Ninja Warriors'' wields a pimp cane that can direct an unseen Killsat to fire on your position.
* In ''Spore'', you get the "Uber Turret", a fast moving low-orbit satellite missile platform. It is an inversion in that instead of attacking ground targets (you deploy on your own colonies; not exactly the thing you'd want to blow), it is used to destroy (in a matter of seconds) squadrons of alien invaders that enter your planet's atmosphere.
* ''{{Machines}} Wired for War'' features an ion cannon that destroys everything within the area of effect and sets fire to things just outside it.
* There is such a weapon in the game ''Uprising''. And it is called Ksat. If only the SP enemy didn't use it....
* If you built a Microwave power station in ''{{Simcity}} 2000'', it could occasionally "miss" and rain KillSat-like destruction on your helpless citizens.
* In ''{{World of Warcraft}}'', Azeroth has 4 [[KillSat Kill Sats]] in orbit, used by the [[PreCursors Titans]] as orbital defense weapons and named after the Keepers of Ulduar.
* In ''Razing Storm'', your allies have one, aimed by firing a laser cannon at the target to transmit its location to the satellite. It's used in Stage 3 to destroy the BigBad and his headquarters, as well as to finish off the GiantEnemyCrab boss.
* The scrapped ''{{Fallout}}'' Van Buren project revolved around the B.O.M.B., one of two nuke-throwing death stations, still in orbit after 200 years, and still with its payload intact.
** The real ''{{Fallout}} 3'' has a ShoutOut to the above with "Highwater Trousers" orbital platform. Broken Steel has the Enclave dust off a similar weapon. Then there is Mothership Zeta...
* Are we forgetting the Orbital and EMP strikes available to teams in ''{{Battlefield 2142}}''?
* {{Machines}} has a ion cannon that can wipe out almost anything in its (small) blast radius and set fire to anything just out side it. Taking over an enemy base can gain access to their ion cannon.
* ''{{Ace Combat}} 3'' has the OSL (Orbital Satellite Laser) unlockable weapon, which [[GameBreaker only requires a radar lock and the push of a button to annihilate any target in one hit, is available for all aircraft, and has plenty of "ammo" too]].
** ''Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War'' has the SOLG (Strategic Orbital Linear Gun), a satellite-based railgun capable of firing MIRV-type nuclear warheads and wiping out half the major cities in the game's two main countries, not to mention it's programmed to crash down into Earth if control from the surface is cut off. There's also the Arkbird, which is actually a huge spaceship rather than a satellite, but can still kick some ass down there when equipped with a laser system.
** The Belkan laser-based superweapon Excalibur in ''Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War'', while not a satellite, can still use mirror-like structures in orbit in order to increase its effective range and change its angle of attack.
* In the light gun game ''Target: Terror'', the player can acquire a one-use "smart bomb" by firing at a miniature KillSat that quickly scrolls across the screen at regular intervals. When used, a cutscene shows a satellite charging and firing into the earth, immediately killing all hostile targets with individual lasers while leaving friendly NPCs unharmed, even indoors.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* The graphic novel-esque flash series ''BrokenSaints'' features a fanatical CorruptCorporateExecutive who sets up a KillSat network [[spoiler: in order to broadcast a signal triggering his vision of Judgment Day.]] It also has the ability to lock on to anywhere on the planet and emit highly-focused [[ShockAndAwe EM pulses]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Megatokyo'', the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division used "a high-intensity satellite-based laser" to "neutralize" Ed and his plasma cannon, in [[http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/596 this strip]].
* A military Kill Sat was fired with great precision at just one person in [[http://antiheroforhire.com/d/20071012.html this strip]] of ''[[http://antiheroforhire.com/ Antihero for Hire]]''.
* ''ExterminatusNow'', being a combination of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' and ''Warhammer 40,000'', is NAMED after the command that field agents of the Mobian Inquisition can use in times of imminent defeat or upon discovering a massive demon incursion to request a direct strike from an orbital weapons platform on their current position -- which means if they don't manage to get far away quickly enough, they too will go out with a bang. Note that this is a ''toned down'' version of the [=W40K=] Exterminatus...
** [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051111.html 1]] (what is the Exterminatus?), [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051118.html 2]], [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051125.html 3]] (the command is given), [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051202.html 4]], [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051209.html 5]], [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051216.html 6]], [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051223.html 7]] (The Exterminatus), [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20051230.html 8]] (big explosions make guys happy)
* In ''[[http://www.exploitationnow.com/ Exploitation Now]]'', the Bad Guy is [[DeathFromAbove incinerated by]] ''[[DeathFromAbove his own]]'' [[DeathFromAbove "defense" satellite]] after the heroine reprogrammed it to target the building he was in. (Actually they were ''both'' on the roof of said building.) [[http://www.exploitationnow.com/archive.php?date=2002-08-12 1]], [[http://www.exploitationnow.com/archive.php?date=2002-08-14 2]], [[http://www.exploitationnow.com/archive.php?date=2002-08-17 3]]
* The RPG-spoof ''{{Adventurers}}'' has a laser-obsessed BigBad who loves nothing more than using his orbital-based DeathRay to [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20030430.html toast bread and make sammiches.]]
* The "Eyes in the Sky" from ''SluggyFreelance''. In the ghoul-infested world, these "Eyes" were used to [[DeathFromAbove rain destruction down upon attacking ghouls]].
* Used in [[http://truckbearingkibble.com/comic/2007/07/27/the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-lasers-part-1-of-2/ This strip about Sound of Music robots]] from ''Truck Bearing Kibble''.
* ''Userfriendly'' is also fond of this trope, in the form of "Crowbar Satellites", which... well, drop crowbars from orbit. When the User Friendly crew were visiting Antarctica, one of the techs living there used a satellite to drop a crowbar on the unfortunate Predator wandering around outside with a soldering iron stuck in his eye (it's a long story), exploding him quite satisfactorily. Pitr (resident evil-genius wannabe) eventually got his own Crowbar Satellite... at least until one of the other techs found the remote and mistook it for a handheld game, wasting all the ammo.
* In ''TheAdventuresOfDoctorMcNinja'', Dracula is ''far'' too elegant to bother with something as blunt as an orbital satellite. He uses [[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=15&issue=11 Moon]] [[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=16&issue=11 Lasers]] instead.
* ''NSTA'' revolves around the operations of the titular National Satellite Tracking Agency, which manages orbital satellites used for both techno-telepathic [[NinetyPercentOfYourBrain brain-borrowing]] computation and orbital laser strikes. The first strip to introduce the latter functionality involved precision brain surgery by thought-controlled orbital laser.
* The Tower of Babel in ''{{SSDD}}'' is an odd variation in that the satellite is only a mirror designed to redirect the lasers fired from a very large, very [[FreudWasRight phallic looking]] tower. Apparently previous attempts at orbital weapons were either really large and easy to shoot down, or underpowered.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The second Watchtower in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' had one of these, which caused the heroes no end of grief when it got hijacked for villainous purposes.
** One episode named it the "Binary Fusion Generator", which (while never spoken as such in the show) has a [[{{BFG}} convenient acronym]].
** In the ''BatmanBeyond'' {{OVA}} [[TheMovie movie]], ''Return of the Joker'', the Joker manages to gain control of a Kill Sat. Terry is forced into a chase scene with the beam through downtown Gotham at one point. (The commentary notes that this is a ShoutOut to the Akira example from above.)
** In the ''JusticeLeague'' episode ''Maid of Honor'', villain Vandal Savage takes control of a [[ColonyDrop mass driver equipped]] KillSat owned by the country kingdom of his intended bride...and is promptly crushed (but not killed, thanks to his regenerative powers) by a shot from the weapon after his plans are foiled.
* ''CodeLyoko'': XANA once [[EverythingIsOnline hacked into]] a laser satellite, apparently to try to vaporize Yumi... [[DesignatedVictim again]].
** Make that "twice"; the Satellite shows up again in Season 4 episode "Hot Shower" to [[ColonyDrop divert an asteroid from its course]].
* ''RockosModernLife'' episode "Teed Off" featured a satellite that launched ''[[AnvilOnHead grand pianos]]''.
** In "Wacky Deli", [[CrankyNeighbor Ed Bighead]] proposes the use of a more conventional Kill Sat to vaporize Rocko and co. after their cartoon, the eponymous [[SoBadItsGood 'Wacky Deli']], makes executive producer and Ed's son, Ralph the target of constant [[{{Flashmob}} mobbing]] by [[FanGirl fans of the show]]. After Ralph says that he doesn't want to kill Rocko, Ed settles for [[GlobalWarning melting the polar ice caps]] instead.
* In an episode of ''[[SuperFriends Galactic Guardians]]'', Darkseid tries to turn the peaceful Star City into a Kill Sat. When the heroes foil his plan, he is forced to settle for a ColonyDrop.
* In the 1981 ''Spider-Man'' cartoon, Doctor Doom introduced us to a satellite-mounted laser -- the laser part of which was actually a holdover from [[StoryArc an earlier episode]] -- and used it to play with the Pacific Ring of Fire. As far as the "kill" part, [[spoiler:the satellite turns out to have a surprisingly localized effect when it gets knocked off course, burns a path to his castle and bodily [[HoistByHisOwnPetard vaporizes him]].]]
* JohnnyBravo was once fried by one when he started hitting on a random nerd girl.
* ''InvaderZim'' parodies this. When Dib discovers that Zim is weak against water, naturally a water fight ensues. This escalates until Zim builds a giant, orbital water balloon launcher.
* In ''GIJoe: Resolute'' Cobra uses a kill sat to blow up [[ThrowAwayCountry Moscow]]. Successfully, [[DarkerAndEdgier in the first ten minutes of the first episode]].
* In the ''Series/{{Dilbert}}'' series, Dogbert causes some havoc with one of these.
* Ronald Reagan in ''CelebrityDeathmatch'' tried to kill Ayatollah Khomeini with the StarWars satellite defense system. The first attempt failed and killed a random audience member instead, but the second attempt succeeded.
* The ''AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' episode "Queen's Lair" revolved around the Rangers' efforts to take out one of these before [[BigBad The Queen of the Crowns]] took out Earth with it. This actually made for one of the darker episodes of the series.
* In BeastWars, an alien race known as the Vok had built a gigantic death ray within a second artificial moon orbiting Earth with the purpose of wiping out all life on Earth and starting anew (OrSoIHeard). Said ray was blown up when Optimus Primal attempted a HeroicSacrifice. He got better.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The actual deployment of nukes in space is prohibited by the 1969 Outer Space Treaty.
** Which had the unfortunate side-effect of indefinately postponing all research into nuclear detonation driven spaceflight, such as Project Orion.
*** Actually the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, which prohibited atmospheric tests of atomic weapons because of the fallout they caused. Since Project Orion was to be a spacecraft propelled by atomic explosions, atmospheric tests using atomic bombs would probably have been necessary at some stage in its development. Orion was awesome, but fallout is uncool.
* One of the best-known real life examples (although it never passed the experimental stages) was the US "strategic defense initiative" or "Star Wars" program which was shelved in the closing years of the Cold War. Principally a system to intercept intercontinental missiles from space, it also included "Rods from God" and "Brilliant Pebbles", anti-fortification weapons which (in laymen's terms) were meant to drop big rods or lumps of metal from orbit at underground bunkers, using the kinetic energy of the weapon rather than explosives or nukes to do the damage.
** This troper's favorite [=SDI=] idea was the pop-up one-shot X-Ray laser satellite powered by a nuke and theoretically toasting an area as wide as a football field. The single test towards this design proved inconclusive, though serendipitously fueled the development of plenty of other (often civil) technologies. Still, it may have been the inspiration for ''Goldeneye'', above.
** Rods from God is supposedly back on the drawing board now, as a possible way of discreetly dealing with hardened targets belonging to terrorists or rogue states.
** In a rather odd form of life imitating art, noted sci-fi author LarryNiven was an advisor to the SDI program.
*** During the early Cold War era there was a think tank assembled made out of prominent sci-fi writers (including (IIRC) Asimov and Hubbard (He WAS a prominent sci-fi writer before he turned nutjob cult leader))
** In the decades since it was abandoned, many of the engineers and scientists who were involved in SDI have openly admitted that they'd never expected their projects to work: to them, it was just a handy way to get funding for pure physics research under the guise of applied military R&D.
* The Russian military space station ''OPS-2/Salyut 3'' sported a self-defense gun that was tested successfully on a target-satellite (one has to wonder if they put a target up there or simply shot an American one). The intent here was probably taking out potential US killer satellites.
** They probably shot down one of their own obsolete birds, as taking out a functioning US satellite would be considered an act of war.
* The Russians also had the [[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/polyus.htm Polyus project]], an advanced weapons satellite that would have sported particle weaponry, orbital mines, and an anti-observance shroud (read: cloaking device, or rather very dark cover). ''Would'' have -- it was launched upside down, executed a 360-degree spin instead of a 180, and crashed into the ocean.
* During the late 1990s, the Russian government announced plans for building a network of mirror satellites to capture and collect sunlight and direct it onto subpolar regions (i.e. Siberia) during winter, to improve agriculture or cut down on electrical lighting during the polar winter. The project seems to have been dropped quietly, due to costs. (Speaking as an ecologist, this editor can only say, thank God they didn't build it. It's sometimes hard to get engineers to understand that their "brilliant" ideas are not so great when seen from another viewpoint.)
* OlderThanTheyThink: Sputnik 1, the first satellite EVER, freaked a lot of people out when it went up, although they were afraid of the possibility of the launch vehicles the Russians now had being used to launch nuclear warheads rather than the satellite itself.
* [[OlderThanTheyThink Even Older Than They Think]]: The [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi's]] called theirs the Sonnengewehr or "Sun Gun", which in turn was based on a 1929 design. A giant space-borne parabolic mirror, it would have been used to burn down cities from space. Let me repeat: [[StupidJetpackHitler The Nazis]] were building a giant space-borne sun laser. [[http://www.damninteresting.com/the-third-reichs-diabolical-orbiting-superweapon More info here.]]
* The ultimate proposed kill-sat is the Nicoll-Dyson Laser. Using a shell of satellites in orbit around the sun (the original proposal for a Dyson Sphere, not a solid shell) which collect solar energy and convert it into a laser beam, James Nicoll calculated that one could use the satellites to create a phased array laser which would have an initial beam width equal to the size of the satellites' orbits and an effective range of ''millions of light years''.
** [[FridgeLogic Isn't it a light-speed weapon, though?]] It would be ineffective to shoot at anything much more than a few light-seconds or light-minutes away, as ''missing'' might be very, very bad.
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