This is an interesting point I hadn't considered before. International arms control is something I associate with negotiations by countries (and perhaps support from large NGOs) but if that fails...
Nations have been largely unsuccessful in reining in anti-satellite testing. Commercial companies with their expanding role both in the space industry and in global economies “could use their dollars and customers to also influence how countries behave in space. Countries aren’t the only ones who can set and enforce norms of behavior.”
This is an interesting point I hadn't considered before. International arms control is something I associate with negotiations by countries (and perhaps support from large NGOs) but if that fails there are corporations with a stake in this who could try using their influence to get results. Corporations having as much power in space as national governments feels a bit like something from a dystopian scifi universe though.
this is pretty much inevitable with the proliferation of private companies like spacex producing things instead of governments funding their own space programs and building everything themselves,...
Corporations having as much power in space as national governments feels a bit like something from a dystopian scifi universe though.
this is pretty much inevitable with the proliferation of private companies like spacex producing things instead of governments funding their own space programs and building everything themselves, though. the only way you can really prevent this from being so is by not being dependent on corporations in the first place.
The testing needs to be of non-demolitions-based anti-satellite testing. There is some need for anti-satellite ability for no other reason than bugged equipment. What about a GPS satellite that...
The testing needs to be of non-demolitions-based anti-satellite testing. There is some need for anti-satellite ability for no other reason than bugged equipment. What about a GPS satellite that somehow goes rogue? Or a satellite that acts like a signal jammer due to a mistake?
Heading up to a satellite and pushing it into a re-entry or escape trajectory would be far better than creating hundreds of pieces of ultra high speed shrapnel. Maybe a jet of liquid or gas? Harder to pull off than a simple intercept since you have to match velocities, but without that pesky Kessler.
It will soon be possible to send a satellite to repair another: Or to destroy it (soft paywall; use private browsing) In other words this kind of testing is already being done. The article goes...
In 2016 China launched a small spacecraft named Aolong (“Roaming Dragon”), reportedly to test a robotic arm designed to capture debris. Chinese officials have suggested that more such vehicles are in the pipeline. Earlier this year, a European consortium also launched a spacecraft designed to test ways of capturing junk. RemoveDEBRIS, as it is called, fired a net on September 16th and successfully caught an object it had released to simulate space junk. This was a world first. In February it will attempt another, by firing a harpoon designed to skewer a chunk of composite material brought along for the test.
These advances in what engineers call “rendezvous and proximity operations” have elated many. But they have a dark side. Something that can grab or dock with objects in space might also be used to destroy them. As William Shelton, a former head of the American air force’s space command, puts it, the difference between a service spacecraft and a weapon is merely “a change of intent”. According to Mr Shelton, in the past decade China and Russia have made “stunning” progress with such systems. At least one Chinese satellite has bumped into another one, perhaps in a test of the feasibility of such attacks.
In other words this kind of testing is already being done. The article goes into a lot more detail and is definitely worth the read if you're interested.
This is an interesting point I hadn't considered before. International arms control is something I associate with negotiations by countries (and perhaps support from large NGOs) but if that fails there are corporations with a stake in this who could try using their influence to get results. Corporations having as much power in space as national governments feels a bit like something from a dystopian scifi universe though.
(For context, the Tildes discussion on the original test.)
this is pretty much inevitable with the proliferation of private companies like spacex producing things instead of governments funding their own space programs and building everything themselves, though. the only way you can really prevent this from being so is by not being dependent on corporations in the first place.
The testing needs to be of non-demolitions-based anti-satellite testing. There is some need for anti-satellite ability for no other reason than bugged equipment. What about a GPS satellite that somehow goes rogue? Or a satellite that acts like a signal jammer due to a mistake?
Heading up to a satellite and pushing it into a re-entry or escape trajectory would be far better than creating hundreds of pieces of ultra high speed shrapnel. Maybe a jet of liquid or gas? Harder to pull off than a simple intercept since you have to match velocities, but without that pesky Kessler.
It will soon be possible to send a satellite to repair another: Or to destroy it (soft paywall; use private browsing)
In other words this kind of testing is already being done. The article goes into a lot more detail and is definitely worth the read if you're interested.