The space arms race is on
World’s big powers plough resources into high-altitude weaponry
WHEN historians of the future chart humanity’s military misadventures in space, they might conclude they began in earnest last month. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the world’s big powers are ploughing serious resources into weaponry, systems and, in the case of the US, a new military branch intended to fight outside Earth’s atmosphere.
On March 22, India announced the highest profile test of an antisatellite weapon in more than a decade. Earlier in the month, the Pentagon announced a 20% increase in military space spending as part of its 2020 budget, asking the US Congress for $14.1 billion (R198.5bn).
While the lion’s share of that will go on the US Air Force and other existing agencies, next year should also see the first personnel join the initial headquarters of a new US Space Force. Proposals unveiled on March1 show $2bn earmarked for the fledgling military service over the next five years, going from a few hundred personnel next year to 15000 by 2025.
The idea of a new military service was mocked when President Donald Trump suggested it in a speech a year ago. But while snide Star Wars and Star Trek references still pepper articles on the subject, it increasingly feels like an idea whose time has come. Indeed, talk of its creation may well have further spurred a growing arms race.
An arena for international co-operation for decades, wider space policy is now also a matter of international rivalry and political posturing.
On March 26, Vice President Mike Pence told the National Space Council that Washington was in a new space race with Moscow and Beijing, pledging to put Americans back on the moon within five years.
On March 27, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi proclaimed his country’s anti-satellite test elevated it to the rank of “space superpower”, stressing that the test had proven India’s ability to safeguard its space assets.
It’s enough to worry diplomats everywhere, particularly in countries whose economies depend on space and satellites, but now fear being left behind, or are suffering damage from the acts of others. The EU called last week for a new arms treaty that, among other things, would manage the risk of orbital debris.
The US military Space Surveillance Network tracks some 20000 items in low Earth orbit larger than a softball that could damage the satellite networks on which the world increasingly depends. Some 3 000 of those stem from a single 2007 Chinese test strike on an old weather satellite. This is one reason such tests have become taboo, particularly in higher orbits.
Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine has slammed India’s test, saying that it had increased the risk of the International Space Station (ISS) colliding with debris by 44%.
Meanwhile, Sputnik reported that about 60 fragments of India’s Microsat-r military satellite are flying in orbit, 46 of which are flying in orbits located above the apogee of the Space Station, according to the US Air Force’s catalog, published on space-track.org website.
India says its scientists worked hard to minimise debris, conducting the strike at a much lower altitude, so that any debris would fall back to us within weeks although some experts said it could take much longer.
The Indian test took place at a similar height to a 2008 US missile strike on a malfunctioning reconnaissance satellite, an operation which US officials said was necessary to avoid the dangers of an uncontrolled re-entry. |
Reuters