War in Space: The Coming Satellite Wars! – Russia tests direct-ascent anti-satellite missile – My Comments
[It is fascinating watching the weaponization of space. There was an agreement decades ago I think that space would not be militarised. But the truth is that in human affairs, and as you will learn via Nietzsche, these things are not possible. War will go wherever man goes, and war is not bad. It is simply necessary, and we must do what we need to do. With all these satellites in space, they present a global infrastructure that the USA especially needs. The destruction or damage of these systems is actually critical to weakening the US military. That is why Russia is doing this. But this will come into play regardless of who the great powers are. Europe too will face this. What is kind of creepy is this: Once you have a war in space and you begin blasting satellites, the main danger of this will be that all kinds of small, unpredictable debris will be orbiting the earth. A lot of it will fall and burn up. But there will be debris that will pose threats to space craft either leaving or returning to the Earth. It will make space travel very much more dangerous and tedious. So if one has a major war, a world war, and satellites are shot up, the biggest problem would be the harm to space vehicles for decades to come. However, as with all things, Whites will solve the problems. To say you won't have war in space is like saying you won't have war in the air or war at sea. It is inevitable and it will happen and the key elements to knock out will be satellites. They are extremely valuable. I suppose in time you could get guerilla war in space too. It is all fascinating stuff. Most of the satellites are too small to ever pose any danger to us because they will burn up on reentry anyway. But the danger is to space vehicles beyond the atmosphere which could be impacted and damaged by unpredictable strikes. The answer is probably better computers, etc. Perhaps even satellites will need to be launched to help detect and monitor the debris? I'm sure Whites will find solutions to the problems. Just stick together and don't fight wars against each other! 14/88. Jan]
By U.S. Space Command Public Affairs Office
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Dec. 16, 2020 — Russia has conducted a test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missile.
"Russia publicly claims it is working to prevent the transformation of outer space into a battlefield, yet at the same time Moscow continues to weaponize space by developing and fielding on-orbit and ground-based capabilities that seek to exploit U.S. reliance on space-based systems," said U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, U.S. Space Command commander.
"Russia’s persistent testing of these systems demonstrates threats to U.S. and allied space systems are rapidly advancing. The establishment of U.S. Space Command as the nation’s unified combatant command for space and U.S. Space Force as the primary branch of the U.S. Armed Forces that presents space combat and combat support capabilities to U.S. Space Command could not have been timelier. We stand ready and committed to deter aggression and defend our Nation and our allies from hostile acts in space."
The United States is concerned by Russia’s continued development and deployment of several types of ground-based and space-based ASAT weapons. These actions are contrary to Russia’s diplomatic and public stance against the weaponization of space. Specifically, Russia has demonstrated two completely different types of space weapons.
The first type of kinetic weapon is a DA-ASAT system capable of destroying satellites in low Earth orbit, which they have tested multiple times. If this weapon is tested on an actual satellite or used operationally, it will cause a large debris field that could endanger commercial satellites and irrevocably pollute the space domain.
The second type is a co-orbital ASAT, a space-based weapon system, which demonstrated an on-orbit kinetic weapon in 2017 and again in 2020. Furthermore, in March 2018, President Putin announced the development of a ground-based laser system for use by the Russian Space Forces, which the Russian military acknowledged as a "combat laser system." This pattern of behavior would be considered potentially threatening in any other domain.
"Russia has made space a warfighting domain by testing space-based and ground-based weapons intended to target and destroy satellites," Dickinson added. "This fact is inconsistent with Moscow’s public claims that Russia seeks to prevent conflict in space. Space is critical to all nations. It is a shared interest to create the conditions for a safe, stable, and operationally sustainable space environment. The demands on the space systems continue in this time of crisis where global logistics, transportation, and communications are key to defeating the COVID-19 pandemic."