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Russia vetoes a UN resolution calling for prevention of a dangerous nuclear arms race in space (apnews.com)
submitted 8 months ago by Rapidcreek@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
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[-] tal@lemmy.today 6 points 8 months ago

I'd also add that, while it's not the subject of the current discussion, non-nuclear kinetic anti-satellite weapons are bad enough; depending upon the altitude of the satellite, they can create long-lasting debris clouds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect,[1][2] collisional cascading, or ablation cascade), proposed by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) due to space pollution is numerous enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions.[3] In 2009, Kessler wrote that modeling results had concluded that the debris environment was already unstable, "such that any attempt to achieve a growth-free small debris environment by eliminating sources of past debris will likely fail because fragments from future collisions will be generated faster than atmospheric drag will remove them".[4] One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations.[3]

The US did one non-nuclear anti-satellite test back when there were few satellites. It took decades for debris to deorbit. India did a relatively-safe, low-altitude one. We'd really, really like to not have especially high-altitude anti-satellite kinetic weapons used, because we don't have a way to clean up the debris field.

On 11 January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite missile test in which one of their FY-1C weather satellites was chosen as the target. The collision occurred at an altitude of 865 kilometres, when the satellite with a mass of 750 kilograms was struck in a head-on-collision by a kinetic payload traveling with a speed of 8 km/s (18,000 mph) in the opposite direction. The resulting debris orbits the Earth with a mean altitude above 850 kilometres, and will likely remain in orbit for decades or centuries.[18]

Absent the creation of some kind of new technology that can deorbit that debris, we're going to be stuck with that one for generations to come.

this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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