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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced on Monday that it has outlawed anti-satellite missile tests by the United States, a move that White House officials said was to underscore hopes of creating new norms for military action in space.
The United States has harshly criticized Russia and China for conducting anti-satellite missile tests, despite using an interceptor missile fired from a US Navy warship to destroy a malfunctioning spy satellite more than 14 years ago.
The problem became more urgent after Russia launched a missile in November to destroy a Soviet-era satellite. In a speech at Vandenberg Space Force Base on California’s central coast to highlight the administration’s move, Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the Russian action as “reckless” and “irresponsible.”
According to the US Space Command, the strike created more than 1,500 space debris raising the risk to US and Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong space station.
“Simply put, these tests are dangerous,” Harris said. “And we’re not going to rule them.”
The Russian trial took place while he was massing his troops before his final invasion of Ukraine. More than seven weeks of warfare left thousands dead and caused the United States and its allies to hit Russia with massive economic sanctions.
A similar weapons test by China in 2007 also resulted in widespread debris.
The debris created by the missile tests not only threatens astronauts and US military interests, but could also affect commercial satellites the world relies on for weather forecasts, GPS systems that help drivers navigate the streets, television broadcasts and critical infrastructure, Harris said.
“A basketball-sized piece of space debris moving at thousands of miles per hour can destroy a satellite. Even a piece of debris as small as a grain of sand can cause serious damage,” Harris said.
The announcement of the anti-satellite missile testing ban comes months after Harris announced at a December meeting that White House National Security Council officials would work with officials at the Pentagon, State Department, and other US national security agencies to develop national security proposals. space norms.
The United States was the first country to declare such a ban. Harris said he hopes other nations will follow suit quickly.
One type of direct-elevation weapon that the Biden administration has pledged not to fire relies on interceptor missiles that move to hit a satellite target hundreds of kilometers from the Earth’s surface.
Since the 1960s, the United States, China, India and Russia have conducted more than a dozen anti-satellite tests in space that destroyed satellites and created more than 6,300 orbital debris, according to the Secure World Foundation, a non-governmental group that advocates for advocacy. for sustainable and peaceful uses of space.
At least 4,300 pieces of this debris are still in orbit today and pose long-term threats to manned spaceflights, science and national security missions, and the future economic development of space, according to the foundation.
Anti-satellite missile tests by the US in 2008 and India in 2019 targeted satellites at much lower altitudes, about 260 miles (420 kilometers) well below the space station.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the missile destruction of a low-earth-orbiting satellite was aimed at demonstrating India’s capability as a “space power” alongside the US, Russia and China. He ordered the launch weeks before the national election.
The now-defunct Russian satellite Cosmos 1408 was in orbit some 65 kilometers higher when it was destroyed by a missile fired from northern Russia in November.
Secure World Foundation program planning director Brian Weeden described the Biden administration’s move as an important step that put pressure on China and Russia to take a similar step.
“While they’ve made a lot of diplomatic noise over the past decade about preventing a space arms race, they’ve also tested their own (anti-satellite) weapons and created orbital debris,” Weeden said.
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