For example, supposedly benign technology aimed at removing defunct satellites or other space junk -known as Active Debris Removal (ADR) technology - can also remove active satellites. Drones, ballistic missiles, and explosives detonated near satellites can all function as KE-ASATs.Ĭonversely, non-kinetic ASATs use any non-physical mechanism to render a satellite inoperative, such as blinding satellites with lasers, launching cyberattacks, or jamming frequencies.īut definitional issues arise because any technology that can physically or non-kinetically damage a satellite can be considered an ASAT weapon.
For example, kinetic energy ASATs (KE-ASATs) destroy satellites by physically colliding with them at high velocities. On one level, they are exactly what the term suggests: weapons designed to destroy or limit satellites for military purposes, such as undermining the command and control centers of an adversary’s military. What Are Anti-Satellite Weapons (ASATs)?ĭifficult to define, ASATs occupy a gray zone in international arms control. The race for these weapons not only increases the risk of global conflict-it could jeopardize all future space exploration. We are now witnessing the rapid and increasingly international development of anti-satellite weapons. While the current space race may not have the same monopoly on the American imagination as the sprint to the moon held during the 1950s and 60s, it deserves our equal attention.
Nevertheless, a space race born from the Cold War continues to unfold. In that time, the Berlin Wall has fallen, the Soviet Union has dissolved, and China has become one of the United States’ largest trading partners. It has been decades since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I and Americans landed on the moon. A space race with Russia and China may seem like a concern of the 20th century, not the 21st.
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