![]() ![]() One involves so-called smallsats (small satellites) that perform focused tasks with individual units that are relatively cheap to build and launch, making them easy to replace and capable of being deployed in large numbers. Intriguingly, private industry is already pursuing two ways of developing money-making technologies in space that could provide resilience and even defense for military satellite constellations. The perceived advantages of eliminating or disabling enemy satellites in wartime may prove resistant to any agreement. However, even advocates say there is a long way to go before satellite security can rely on international norms of behavior. Such diplomatic moves cover only a portion of the threat to satellites, albeit a particularly dangerous one. The action follows the Biden administration’s declaration of a unilateral moratorium in April on the testing of such weapons. 12, the latest session of the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group on Reducing Space Threats convening in Geneva saw the United States proposing a formal ban on the testing of direct-ascent anti-satellite weapons, which are missiles capable of destroying targets in orbit. anti-satellite capability as a deterrent, or relying on diplomacy to ban or otherwise control such weapons internationally. Since there is only so much that can be done to “harden” a vulnerable satellite without making it ridiculously expensive to build and launch, the options essentially are to enable it to maneuver out of the way or provide resiliency for the constellation as a whole by having backups available to replace losses. military planners are faced with uncomfortable questions about how to equip and train for this eventuality and its repercussions. Many strategists predict satellites could become the first targets in any outbreak of major hostilities, even as analysts worry that a significant war in space could render Earth orbit unusable indefinitely. While the possibility of such wars returning to the modern era casts fear and uncertainty, perhaps the most unknown of unknowns is what happens when space becomes an active front. Armed conflict in Eastern Europe and the specter of it in the Western Pacific signal that future wars between great powers are all but inevitable.
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