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Arms Race Hits Space
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Morphine a répondu le Fri 19 Jan, 2007 @ 9:08am |
 Coolness: 51060 | Stefanie Balogh in New York
January 19, 2007 11:00pm FEARS of an arms race in space spread throughout the world yesterday after confirmation that China had successfully used a ground-based ballistic missile to shoot one of its ageing weather satellites out of the sky. The Bush administration has kept a lid on the test for more than a week as it weighed its significance. It was forced to respond yesterday – both publicly and through diplomatic channels to Beijing – after the story was broken in American Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine. The test, on January 11, used a ballistic missile launched from or near China's Xichang Space Centre in Sichuan Province to hunt down the eight-year-old Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite more than 865km above Earth. As many as 300,000 pieces of debris might have been created by the explosion – hundreds of which would be big enough to seriously damage other satellites in near orbit. The satellite-destroying test is understood to be the first of its kind in two decades by any nation. Analysts said the test represented an indirect threat to Washington's defence systems, as China's weather satellites travelled at about the same altitude as US spy satellites. It also dramatically illustrated China's willingness to stare down international criticism over its weapons programs. It also comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US and China regarding space, following most notably an incident in August when a US satellite was "painted" by a ground-based laser in China. US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "The United States 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. We and other countries have expressed our concern to the Chinese." Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Canberra had issued its "please explain" to China earlier in the week, saying he did not want to see China break ranks with other nations and begin militarising space. "What we don't want to see is some sort of spread, if you like, an arms race into outer space," he said. Other nations, including Japan, South Korea and Britain, have also voiced their concern. Precisely what drove China to act remains a mystery. But the US has to figure out how to respond, said John Pike, a satellite expert at [ globalsecurity.org ] Since the mid-1980s, the US has been able to take down satellites, but the Chinese do not have satellites worth attacking, Mr Pike said. The US may now have to develop alternatives to its current spy satellites, perhaps stealth satellites or unmanned aerial vehicles, which are harder to detect than the current US satellite network. [ www.news.com.au ] |
Arms Race Hits Space
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