Chuck DarwinTwo NATO-nation intelligence services suspect #Russia is developing a new #antisatellite weapon to target Elon Musk's Starlink constellation via destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel,
with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield.
Intelligence findings seen by The Associated Press say the so-called "#zone-#effect #weapon" would seek to flood Starlink orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets, potentially disabling multiple satellites at once
-- but also risking catastrophic collateral damage to other orbiting systems.
Analysts who haven't seen the findings say they doubt such a weapon could work without causing uncontrollable chaos in space for companies and countries, including Russia and its ally China, that rely on thousands of orbiting satellites for communications, defense and other vital needs.
Such repercussions, including risks to its own space systems, could steer Moscow away from deploying or using such a weapon, analysts said.
"I don't buy it. Like, I really don't," said Victoria Samson, a space-security specialist at the Secure World Foundation who leads the Colorado-based nongovernmental organization's annual study of anti-satellite systems. "I would be very surprised, frankly, if they were to do something like that."
But the commander of the Canadian military's Space Division, Brig. Gen. Christopher Horner, said such Russian work cannot be ruled out in light of previous U.S. allegations that Russia also has been pursuing an indiscriminate nuclear, space-based weapon.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/intelligence-agencies-suspect-russia-is-developing-anti-satellite-weapon-to-target-starlink-service
with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield.
Intelligence findings seen by The Associated Press say the so-called "#zone-#effect #weapon" would seek to flood Starlink orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets, potentially disabling multiple satellites at once
-- but also risking catastrophic collateral damage to other orbiting systems.
Analysts who haven't seen the findings say they doubt such a weapon could work without causing uncontrollable chaos in space for companies and countries, including Russia and its ally China, that rely on thousands of orbiting satellites for communications, defense and other vital needs.
Such repercussions, including risks to its own space systems, could steer Moscow away from deploying or using such a weapon, analysts said.
"I don't buy it. Like, I really don't," said Victoria Samson, a space-security specialist at the Secure World Foundation who leads the Colorado-based nongovernmental organization's annual study of anti-satellite systems. "I would be very surprised, frankly, if they were to do something like that."
But the commander of the Canadian military's Space Division, Brig. Gen. Christopher Horner, said such Russian work cannot be ruled out in light of previous U.S. allegations that Russia also has been pursuing an indiscriminate nuclear, space-based weapon.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/intelligence-agencies-suspect-russia-is-developing-anti-satellite-weapon-to-target-starlink-service
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