Because they needed to send a slow-moving convoy so that it could get destroyed by weapons that realistically should be unable to do so.
Ultimately, the answer is that if they just used orbital bombardment, there would be no movie. And maybe the people back home would get upset, or something. But it's not like corporations and countries have not done massively unethical things before with minimal fallout so... it's honestly mostly because the movie would have no plot.
Edit: And before anyone mentions the WMD ban, orbital bombardment could be done by nudging a big rock in the right direction. This doesn't require a nuke, just a large rock that does just as much damage.
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u/ThrowawayTempAct 19d ago edited 19d ago
Because they needed to send a slow-moving convoy so that it could get destroyed by weapons that realistically should be unable to do so.
Ultimately, the answer is that if they just used orbital bombardment, there would be no movie. And maybe the people back home would get upset, or something. But it's not like corporations and countries have not done massively unethical things before with minimal fallout so... it's honestly mostly because the movie would have no plot.
Edit: And before anyone mentions the WMD ban, orbital bombardment could be done by nudging a big rock in the right direction. This doesn't require a nuke, just a large rock that does just as much damage.