Soldier on the hunt for the satellite killer

The orbit of the earth is increasingly seen by major powers as a potential battlefield, reports the computer magazine ‘c’t’. This can be seen in its multi-billion dollar armament programs: The US, which has had its own force for military activities in space since 2019 with the “Space Force”, recently invested $24.5 billion in this area – an increase of 30 percent. percent compared to last year.

In Russia and China, billions are also likely to flow into space warfare. Only recently, a study from the environment of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army caused a stir, which talked about attempts to destroy the Starlink communications network.

Ballistic Missiles and Killer Satellites
There are two types of weapon systems studied: ballistic missiles, which are launched into orbit to destroy satellites in low Earth orbit, and so-called “satellite fighters” – lethal satellites that destroy other satellites through collisions or explosive attacks. Both ideas are not new and were already explored by the US and the Soviet Union at the beginning of the space age.

In 1963, the United States first blew up a satellite in low Earth orbit. The Nike Zeus missile used could also have been equipped with a warhead to disable satellites with an additional electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

In the late 1950s, the Soviet Union launched the “Istrebitel Sputnikov” project – a killer satellite that would have to approach enemy satellites in orbit with its own propulsion and destroy them with an explosive device. Countermeasures have also been investigated. Russian killer satellites, if attacked themselves, could emit nitrogen gas and hide in the resulting cloud.

Missiles don’t reach every satellite
Such killer satellites are especially designed for higher orbit attacks: while low-orbit communications satellites at an altitude of a few hundred kilometers could easily be shot down with missiles, the GPS satellites stationed at 20,000 kilometers are difficult. for ballistic missiles.

Of course, launching a missile from a fighter jet or directly from orbit can significantly increase its range. The US Space Force is even considering a military base on the moon from which to launch anti-satellite weapons.

Space debris threatens space travel
The big problem with this arms race in space: weapons tests or even a war in space cause a deluge of space debris. Last year, for example, Russia tested its Nudol anti-satellite missile on a disused Soviet satellite. The spacecraft blew up in about 1,500 individual parts, now orbiting Earth at thousands of miles per hour like a dangerous cloud of space debris.

Due to the weapons test, the International Space Station (ISS) – see video above – had to initiate evasive maneuvers to avoid getting entangled in the cloud of debris. A few years earlier, the Chinese military tested an anti-satellite weapon on a disused weather satellite – here, too, a cloud of debris formed.

8,500 tons of space debris – and the trend is increasing
If weapons testing were intensified, the space debris problem could become so large that safe rocket launches and space travel would become impossible. About 8,500 tons of space debris is already orbiting Earth, including from weapons tests.

At the same time, the number of satellites orbiting the Earth is expected to increase to more than 100,000 in the coming years. Starlink alone, the satellite internet provider of the American space group SpaceX, has put more than 2,400 internet satellites into orbit in recent years. In the final phase, the network will consist of several tens of thousands.