On Monday night U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced a US self-imposed ban on anti-satellite missile testing, the first such move of any nation. It comes as part of a Biden administration strategy to encourage more responsible space security norms.
Space debris. Credit: Johan Swanepoel / Shutterstock
Credit: Johan Swanepoel/ Shutterstock
Harris, the chair of the National Space Council, encouraged other nations to follow suit.
Anti-satellite missiles are space weapons designed to destroy space satellites. If used, or if anti-satellite missiles are tested, dangerous waste debris is left in the earth’s atmosphere upon explosion.
Read more: Repsol & Spanish Air Force partner for sustainable air mobility
"This commitment addresses one of the most pressing threats to the security and sustainability of space, as demonstrated by Russia's November 2021 destructive direct ascent ASAT missile test. The People's Republic of China conducted a similar test in 2007," said a White House statement accompanying Harris’ announcement.
The U.S., China, India and Russia have all carried out anti-satellite missile testing in the past, with China’s 2007 demonstration causing the biggest field of debris with some 2,000 pieces endangering 700 active spacecraft.
On November 15 last year, Russia also destroyed one of its own satellites. This created a field of at least 1,500 pieces of debris, endangering the International Space Station (ISS) and making it more difficult to conduct future space operations. At the time, the seven members of the ISS crew had to shelter in docked spaceship capsules, as the sky-high research lab passed through or nearby the debris.
"Russia has demonstrated a deliberate disregard for the security, safety, stability and long-term sustainability of the space domain for all nations," space command chief U.S. Army General James Dickinson said at the time.
Back in 2007, after China’s test, the US Air Force said it would spend more than $400 million over a five-year period to promote “operationally responsive space”. However, the US conducted a test in 2008, and India did the same in 2019.
In the wake of the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian war, there has also been concern that space could become a frontier for the conflict if space-based intelligence satellites become a Russian objective. The US announcement is therefore also a stand for international space order.
"Conflict or confrontation in outer space is not inevitable, and the United States seeks to ensure outer space remains free from conflict," the White House statement on Monday said.
Read more: Fujitsu's quantum-inspired solution to space junk
Humans are good at producing junk. Every year, we create two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste – that’s enough rubbish to fill 800,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. According to National Geographic, if waste continues on its current trajectory there will be 12 million metric tonnes of plastic in landfills by 2050 – 35,000 times the weight of the Empire State Building. Waste covers vast expanses of land and ocean. And, in a predictable move, humans have begun to clutter space too.
As well as the anti-satellite missile debris, there are 3,000 dead satellites, 34,000 pieces of space junk bigger than 10 cm, and millions of smaller pieces, all littering space. They can continue to circle the earth for hundreds if not thousands of years, and pose a risk to satellites that have to move to avoid any collisions. Since 1999 the ISS has had to make 25 debris avoidance manoeuvres.
Back to Homepage
Back to Aerospace & Defence