The U.S. is Banning Destructive Anti-Satellite Missile Tests to Avoid an Arms Race

This month, the U.S. government announced that it will not perform destructive anti-satellite weapons experiments, which dispersed hazardous “space junk” in low-Earth orbit.

The prohibition is an attempt to limit the spread of space junk and delay the development of anti-satellite weapons– an area where the U.S. is the most at risk and likely has a strong lead. Space organizations praise the action, which they express that other spacefaring nations should adhere it.

On April 18, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the ban during a visit to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. According to a very well prepared Statement from the White House:

The United States commits not to conduct destructive, direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile testing, and that the United States seeks to establish this as a new international norm for responsible behavior in space. The Vice President also called on other nations to make similar commitments and to work together in establishing this as a norm, making the case that such efforts benefit all nations.

Anti-satellite weapons

Destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons are released from Earth on high-altitude aircraft through rockets.

The ASAT penetrates low-Earth orbit on a collision course with the satellite target and crashes right into it. Many nations have conducted direct-ascent destructive ASAT tests, including the United States, Russia, China, and India.

This specific sort of ASAT weapon is relatively basic: any nation that can put satellites into orbit– or long-range international ballistic missiles, for that matter– can, at some point, evolve to slamming satellites in orbit.

The ASAT weapons do not require high-explosive or nuclear warheads; the kinetic power from a collision at thousands of miles per hour will turn hunter and prey into hundreds, often thousands, of parts of orbiting debris.

ASAT weapons’ contribution to space polution

That is precisely the issue with destructive ASAT weapons. According to the Secure World Foundation, ASAT tests can create thousands of pieces of space junk, small and big. The Secure World Foundation promotes cooperative strategies for space sustainability.

Almost all parts de-orbit in the following days or weeks, dragged into the atmosphere by Earth’s gravity, where they burn up. Others remain in orbit, traveling at up to 17,000 miles per hour, making even the smallest part of debris a danger to satellites and space stations, and spacecraft populated by astronauts.

” The sixteen ASAT tests performed since the beginning of the Space Age have produced over 6,300 pieces of space debris. Approximately 4,400 are still out there,” Victoria Samson, Washington Office Director for the Secure World Foundation, tells Popular Mechanics. “Some of this has been around for five decades right now. The United States commitment to reject performing destructive ASAT tests in space is an excellent initial step to guarantee that method of space debris creation is trimmed significantly or even shut down entirely. As well as I hope that even more nations will join the United States and announce similar commitments.”

The anti-satellite weapons ban’s effect in the US

The prohibition is especially beneficial for the United States. The US is the leading space power, with experience in anti-satellite weapons dating back to the 1980s. Before fielding it, the U.S. would probably not even need to check a new, destructive ASAT weapon.

The ban will not outlaw two existing ASAT weapons: the Ground-Based Interceptor missile system based in Hawaii and California and the SM-3 ballistic missile interceptor based on U.S. Navy warships.

Washington additionally has a beneficial interest in limiting the advancement of destructive ASAT weapons. According to data from the World Economic Forum, as of October 2020, the United States operated 1,308 satellites.

Satellites vulnerable to space junk include spy satellites, commercial imaging satellites, and even the Hubble Space Telescope. Inhabited spacecraft, specifically the International Space Station, are likewise susceptible to space junk.

The test ban does have its limitations. It does not disallow the development and possession of destructive, direct-ascent ASATs, only testing them; a spacefaring power adhering to the ban might develop and stock as many of them as it wants. It also does not forbid non-destructive ASATs, such as directed-energy weapons utilizing lasers or high-powered microwave radiation or ASATs that get satellites and guide them into a useless orbit.

Potential effect on the international arms race

A destructive ASAT ban is in Washington’s self-involvement, but it is undeniably valuable to the remainder of the world. If other nations join, it will increase the pressure on America’s rivals, especially Russia and China, to do the same or stop space junk-creating tests by themselves.

While the ban will not permanently eliminate the danger of ASATs, it will undoubtedly slow a minimum of their development and make low-Earth orbit a little safer for the satellites and astronauts zipping overhead– in the meantime, anyhow.

Read the original article on Popular Mechanics.

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