China shoots down satellite
WASHINGTON – The Chinese military used a ground-based missile to hit and destroy one of its aging satellites orbiting more than 500 miles in space last week – a high-stakes test demonstrating China’s ability to target regions of space that are home to U.S. spy satellites and space-based missile defense systems.
The test of anti-satellite technology is believed to be the first of its kind in two decades by any nation and raised concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. satellites and a possible arms race in space.
China’s action drew sharp protests from other nations with satellite programs – a predictable response that experts said dramatically illustrates Chinese willingness to face broad international criticism when it comes to space, which Beijing considers a key part of the push to modernize its military and increase its ability to compete in high-tech warfare.
“The U.S. believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Thursday. “We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese.”
A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy said he had no information about the anti-satellite test.
In addition to introducing a renewed military dimension to space, the destruction of the Chinese satellite created a large debris cloud that can seriously damage other satellites in nearby orbit, and possibly even spacecraft on their way to the moon or beyond.
Analysts said that based on computer models, as many as 300,000 pieces of debris may have been created. While many would be very small, they said, hundreds would be large enough to create potentially serious problems.
Both the United States and the former Soviet Union tested anti-satellite technology in the 1980s, and the United States shot down one of its orbiting satellites in 1985. Partially as a result of the debris problem, both sides stopped the programs.
The Chinese test, first reported online by the magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology, comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China over space. China is leading an effort in the United Nations to set up an international conference to address what many consider to be an imminent space arms race. The United States has been the one space-faring nation to oppose the idea, arguing that it isn’t needed because there is no arms race in space.
The Bush administration nevertheless released an updated National Space Policy last fall that strongly asserted an American right to defend itself in space against any actions it considered hostile.
The United States military is especially dependent on satellites for navigation, communications and missile guidance, while the American economy could also be broadly damaged by disruptions of communications, weather and other satellites. Some in the administration believe this has left the nation especially vulnerable to attack and have proposed efforts to develop ways to defend its assets in space.
The day the test was conducted, the chiefs of major U.S. intelligence agencies presented their annual threat assessments to Congress. Neither China’s anti-satellite program or its general push toward space weapons were mentioned during the public hearing or anywhere in written testimonies.
The United States retains the ability to destroy low-orbit satellites and has been conducting research on more advanced systems for years.
Officials who have been briefed on the test said the Chinese ballistic missile reached as high as some U.S. spy satellites are positioned. Other satellites positioned at the same altitude are part of the missile defense network the U.S. military is assembling. Sources said a hit-to-destroy ballistic missile could knock out any satellites at that low orbit.
Many sensitive communications satellites are much higher, at some 22,000 miles above Earth, and officials said Thursday the recent test does not prove China has the capability to disrupt those systems. Still, U.S. intelligence officers and administration officials fretted over the ramifications.
“It’s unfortunate that China is going down this path,” said one administration official. “No one has done this in over 20 years, and in that time, international cooperation in space has come so far. It is a bustling commercial, scientific and research arena. This sort of thing is such a throwback to the Cold War.”
“In my view, the Chinese are sending a strong signal here,” said Jeffrey Kueter, president of the George C. Marshall Institute, a nonprofit space and defense think tank in Washington. “They’re saying they can hold our space-based, war-fighting capability at risk, and are putting into doubt our ability to challenge them. They’re a rising space competitor.”