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Space weapons and space junk
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| 05 September 2005 |
The military value of satellites was proven during the first Gulf War when the three Skynet satellites provided tactical communications in the field. The US-led coalition depended even more on space assets for its military operations in the 2003 Iraq war, particularly precision guidance for weapons provided by the US Global Positioning System (GPS).
Military satellites are hardened to resist collisions with debris already in space. However, tiny orbiting fragments produced by space collisions can impact a satellite at around 10 km per second (21,600 miles per hour), thereby damaging its optical systems. The ultimate threat to a military system from space junk is the disabling of a nuclear-armed nation's early warning satellite, possibly resulting in a false early warning of an impending attack.
The US air force is considering the possible uses of anti-satellite weapons. High-speed impacts from air-launched missiles and ground- and space-based anti-satellite weapons would not just render satellites inoperable, but would shatter them to pieces, thereby creating more space junk that may take months to de-orbit. High-speed collisions with space debris resulting from anti-satellite weapons testing could disable or destroy satellites orbiting Earth.
In fact, China has been developing a so-called 'piggyback' satellite. This is being designed to seek out an enemy satellite, space station or space-based laser, to which it will attach itself like a parasite to jam the unit's communications or physically destroy it, reducing it to space debris.
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