Outer Space at Risk: New Study Spotlights Anti-Satellite and Space Debris Threats (Forwarded)

Space Security
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

For more information contact:

Amb. Thomas Graham, Jr.
Cypress fund for Peace and Security
202-361-7452

Dr. William Marshall
NASA Ames Research Center
805-403-2096

Dr. Ray Williamson
Secure World Foundation
303-501-0430

Dr. Ram Jakhu
Institute of Air and Space Law
McGill University
514-398-1382

Dr. Wade Huntley
Simons Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Research
University of British Columbia
604-788-1107

John Siebert
Project Ploughshares
519-888-6541 x 710

For Immediate Release: 6 September 2007

Outer Space at Risk: New Study Spotlights Anti-Satellite and Space Debris
Threats

Anti-satellite weapons and space debris are increasing threats to the
security of outer space, concludes Space Security 2007, released today:

* Ongoing anti-satellite programs are increasing international tensions over
the security of outer space

* Debris from China's recent anti-satellite test has created a serious
problem for the routine and safe operations of all nations' spacecraft

* It is in all nations' self-interest to safeguard use of the space
environment, but there is a widening impasse on how to do this

The US continues to have a small and controversial program for space-based
ballistic missile defense and proto-technologies that may form the basis for
future space-based weapons. More immediate threats come from weapons
programs on Earth, demonstrated by the Chinese anti-satellite test on 11
January 2007. "There is growing tension between the US and China over the
security of outer space, largely driven by mistrust and suspicions over
weapons programs," says Dr. Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure
World Foundation, a contributor to the report.

Increase in space debris is a related danger highlighted by Space Security
2007. The Chinese ASAT test created 1500 pieces of trackable debris in
heavily used orbits -- one of the worst manmade debris-creating events in
history -- but debris caused by routine space operations is also a problem.
"Since 2004, the annual production of new debris has been steadily rising,
following a decline in the 1990s," says Dr. William Marshall from the NASA
Ames Research Center who advised research for the report. "Even a small
piece of metal, traveling at 7.5 km/second, can destroy a spacecraft worth
billions of dollars."

Space Security 2007 also points to a widening impasse on how to manage these
threats. "International efforts to restrict conventional weapons from space
have been stalled for decades. In part this is because the US has been
unwilling to support such efforts. This position was reaffirmed by the US
National Space Policy released in October 2006, which opposes new agreements
that would limit US freedom of action in space," explains Ambassador Thomas
Graham, Jr., a former US Ambassador for Nonproliferation. Williamson adds
that "the Chinese ASAT test has prompted some US officials to call for a
revived US ASAT effort."

"Outer space is of strategic concern to a growing number of countries,"
explains Dr. M. Lucy Stojak, who is a faculty member at the International
Space University. "It accounts for over US$100-billion in global revenues
and is indispensable to national and human security, health, education, and
disaster management. It is in everyone's interest to safeguard the
sustainable use of the space environment."

"Space Security 2007 joins its predecessors as a trustworthy
interdisciplinary source of information for policymakers required to
understand and balance the competing demands and resulting tensions of
commercial, military and civil uses of space," says John Siebert, Executive
Director of Project Ploughshares, which coordinated the report.

Space Security 2007 is the only comprehensive source of data and analysis on
space activities and their cumulative impact on the security of outer space.

The report is part of an annual series produced the Space Security Index,
whose partners include the Cypress Fund for Peace and Security, the
Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University, Project Ploughshares,
Secure World Foundation, the Simons Centre for Disarmament and
Non-Proliferation Research at the University of British Columbia, and the
Space Generation Foundation. It is supported by the Canadian Department of
Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Ford Foundation.

Space Security 2007. Waterloo, ON: Spacesecurity.org, August 2007
ISBN: 978-1-895722-58-1
Complete report and executive summary available at www.spacesecurity.org