But no, hit it from _underneath_ at high speed and knock half the pieces into higher orbit.

Really bright.

That turns out not to be the case, if you think about it.

Orbits repeat. If you see something in orbit at a particular position and going in a particular direction then that same thing will pass back through the same point, going in the same direction, on the next orbit. (ignore that it won't be above the same point on the Earth)

When it passes through that same point it's going to have *come* from somewhere. That somewhere being exactly the *opposite* direction.

So .. you have something in an orbit low enough that it's hitting air friction. You hit it from below and bits of it go shooting significantly more upwards.

Ninety minutes later those same bits are going to go through that same point again, again heading upwards. Which means they'll be approaching that point from somewhere much lower down. Somewhere much further into the atmosphere, where they have more drag.

Chances are good that any bits you do manage to deflect upwards aren't going to complete their next orbit.