“Any piece larger than 1 centimetre is potentially lethal in case of collision,” said Professor Torres, co-author of the research article. In May 2021, a tiny piece of debris struck the Canadarm2 on the ISS and punched a small hole in it.Ī piece of debris hit the Canadarm2 on the International Space Station in 2021. The debris travels at about 36,000 km per hour, and at that speed, even a small chunk can damage a satellite or space station. There are already about 6,000 satellites in orbit and a staggering 131 million pieces of debris between 1 millimetre and 10 centimetres in size. This is the situation, according to the authors. The last three columns show the target, altitude, and pieces of debris created. In their research article, the authors created a table of all known ASAT tests starting in 1957 and ending with Russia’s test in 2021. Bongers is from the Department of Economics and Economic History at the University of Málaga in Spain, and Torres is from the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences at the same university. The authors are Anelí Bongers and José L. The article is “ Star Wars: Anti-Satellite Weapons and Orbital Debris,” and it’s published in the journal Defence and Peace Economics. They’re aware of the potential consequences of ASATs that are laid out in detail in a new research article. President Biden’s administration confirmed that they enacted their ban in order to encourage other countries to follow them. That’s why in 2022, the US announced their own ban on testing ASATs of all types. But an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon needn’t be in space. Testing continued into the future, with ASATs being launched from the ground, sea, and air.Įventually, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibited placing weapons in space. The target was their own Explorer 5 satellite, though the weapon’s telemetry failed, and the test was inconclusive. The US launched their High Virgo weapon from a B-58 bomber prototype. The first test of a direct-ascent ASAT, meaning one that is launched into orbit, occurred in 1957. Russia, China, the USA, and India have all conducted them. Since those early years of the space age, there’ve been dozens of ASAT tests. As soon as there were targets, both sides developed weapons to strike them. In fact, countries have been testing anti-satellite weapons since the 1950s when satellites were growing in number, launched by the USA and their cold-war rival, the USSR. Russia’s 2021 ASAT test wasn’t the only time a country tested a weapon against a satellite. The debris is just as likely to damage your own satellites as it is your adversary’s. While some countries, particularly ones with an authoritarian leaning, would like to place weapons in space as a kind of orbital sabre-rattling, the reality of actually using one to destroy a foe’s satellite can be counter-productive. This is why the US announced an end to testing anti-satellite weapons in space: they’re impractical. “Space activities underpin our way of life, and this kind of behaviour is simply irresponsible.” “The debris created by Russia’s (test) will continue to pose a threat to activities in outer space for years to come, putting satellites and space missions at risk, as well as forcing more collision avoidance maneuvers,” said Army General James Dickinson, commander of U.S. According to NASA, the debris cloud spread from 300 km elevation up to 1,100 km and constituted a perilous hazard to other satellites and orbiting spacecraft. It also created hundreds of thousands or even millions of smaller pieces. The cloud of debris from the 2021 explosion contained more than 1500 debris fragments larger than 10 cm that were trackable by ground-based radar. “Space activities underpin our way of life, and this kind of behaviour is simply irresponsible.” Army General James Dickinson, commander of U.S. According to recent research, the cloud of debris from a shattered satellite could create a cascade of additional collisions that would make LEO unusable in about 40 years. That event highlighted the risk of ASAT (anti-satellite) weapons.
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