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 illustrates Chinese willingness to face broad international criticism when it comes to space. Beijing considers its space efforts 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 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 computer models indicated that as many as 300,000 pieces of debris may have been created. Though many would be very small, they said, hundreds would be large enough to create potentially serious problems.
The United States and the former Soviet Union tested anti-satellite technology in the 1980s, and the U.S. shot down one of its satellites in 1985. Partly 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.
Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a non-profit institute involved with security issues in Washington, called the Chinese test a predictable–and unfortunate–response to American space policies.
“The Chinese are telling the Pentagon that they don’t own space,” he said. “We can play this game too and we can play it dirtier than you.”
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Krepon said the Chinese test “blows a whole through the Bush administration reasoning behind not talking to anybody about space arms control–that there is no space arms race. It looks like there is one at this point.”