What China’s Anti-Satellite Test Means

ABC News consultant Jacqueline Shire blogs: China’s successful launch of an anti-satellite weapon on January 11 is getting lots of attention among the experts who follow space, satellite and arms control issues (see the blog armscontrolwonk.com for a good example), but the rest of us may start to notice too and here’s why: destroying a satellite in outer space creates enormous debris, which lasts for years and can threaten other satellites, which the U.S. depends on for everything from digital radio and ATMs to a host of homeland security and military applications. (The LA Times points out that the Chinese weather satellite destroyed sat in a low earth orbit some 500 miles above the earth, while most telecommunications and military satellites are much further out.) China’s larger military build-up, of which this launch is just one part, has also been happening off the radar for many, but perhaps not for much longer with the 2008 election looming and candidates scrambling to establish and define their foreign policies. The U.S. has generally rebuffed efforts to place limits on the use of outer space, citing national security. Last August, the Bush administration announced a new “space policy” which stated in part that the U.S. will “oppose the development of new legal regimes or other restrictions that limit U.S. access to or use of space.” The question now is whether China’s action will have consequences beyond the verbal warning — called a demarche in diplomatic parlance — reportedly delivered by the United States in Beijing and Washington expressing concern with the launch.