With Earth orbit a potential battlespace of the future and the proliferation of satellite constellations presenting more potential targets than ever before, what capabilities could space-faring countries bring to bear in the event of conflict, and what methods could be under taken to avoid a shooting war in the vacuum? Robert Coppinger explores the issues
From rumoured Russian 100kW space-based lasers to dual-use servicing spacecraft that can de-orbit a satellite, the technologies to disable an adversary’s assets circling Earth continue to advance and offer a new, but potentially risky, method to influence the battlespace.
From the low-altitude Earth orbit of a few hundred miles to the heights of a geostationary trajectory tens of thousands of miles above, the spacecraft that inhabit this realm – from telecommunications to observation and navigation global positioning systems – all have a key role to play in terrestrial and airborne warfare.
Fears about orbital battle have been around since the very beginning of the space age and the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of its Sputnik satellite.
The strategic technological surprise of that launch was only secondary to the realisation that satellites could …
