China's Launch Was First Declared ASAT Test in Over Twenty Years

And it was likely a response to the US announcement
early last year of our intentions to resume ASAT weapons
testing for the first time since 1985.


Center For Defense Information

May 3, 2006

U.S. Air Force Plans a Laser Test Against a Satellite in FY 07

The U.S. Air Force has requested $5.7 million in funding for fiscal year
(FY) 2007 to fire a laser from its Starfire Optical Range in New Mexico at a
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, as part of a program testing and developing
"advanced weapons technologies." Although Air Force officials have told
congressional staff and the media that there are "no current plans" for
developing antisatellite (ASAT) weapons and that the current focus of the
laser test is on benign satellite imaging, they have admitted that the laser
test would demonstrate ASAT capabilities.

As such, the test - if allowed to go forward - would represent the first
declared test of ASAT technology in more than two decades. The last
declared U.S. ASAT tests was the 1985 launch by an F-15 fighter of a missile
against the Air Force's Solwind satellite, which resulted in the creation of
more than 250 pieces of space debris, some of which did not reenter Earth's
atmosphere until 2002. The last declared test of a laser against an
operational satellite was the Army's 1997 use of the New Mexico-based MIRACL
laser at the Air Force's MSTI 3 satellite -- which was justified by the
administration of President Bill Clinton as a test of satellite
vulnerability rather than an ASAT test, a contention that was then and
remains controversial.

The use of a laser with declared ASAT applicability against a satellite
would be a significant break with past U.S. practice of eschewing ASAT
testing and would have major political ramifications. Considering that
there has been little congressional and public debate about the wisdom of
any U.S. policy shift to embrace ASATs and space-based weapons - breaking a
40-year international taboo -- Congress should prohibit the Air Force from
putting the technological horse in front of the policy cart.

PE 0603605F: Advanced Weapons Technology
Project 11SP, Advanced Optics and Laser Space Test

Despite the Air Force's contention that its current plan for applying laser
technology in space is limited to space situational awareness applications,
the service's FY 07 budget justification documents (p. 459 of the R-2s) tell
a different story.

.. The request shifts the planned laser test from a budget line dedicated to
generic space-related technology development (PE 0603500F,
"Multidisciplinary Advanced Development Space Technology, Project 5031") to
a budget pot dedicated to the development of "Advanced Weapons
Technology" -- PE 0603605F, "Advanced Weapons Technology Project 11SP
Advanced Optics and Laser Tech."

.. The mission statement for Project 11SP states: "This project provides for
the demonstration and detailed assessment of space unique technologies
needed for advanced optical systems and high-energy laser weapons."
(Emphasis added)

.. The description of the planned laser test, funded at $5.713 million in FY
07, states: "Perform atmospheric compensation/beam control experiments for
application including antisatellite weapons, relay mirror systems, satellite
tests and diagnostics, and high-resolution satellite imaging." It is
interesting that ASAT applications appear first in this list, and the
declared purposed of the planned FY 07 test, imaging, is stated last.


http://www.cdi.org/program/document....lateditems.cfm

Jonathan wrote:
And it was likely a response to the US announcement
early last year of our intentions to resume ASAT weapons
testing for the first time since 1985.


Center For Defense Information

May 3, 2006

U.S. Air Force Plans a Laser Test Against a Satellite in FY 07

At least the Laser will just melt the thing into clump of slag, and not
go strewing bits of it all over the place in LEO like the Chinese one did.
As has been pointed out, there's a point where you can blow up enough
satellites in LEO that their debris starts hitting even more satellites,
which start making yet more debris in a chain reaction to the point
where a whole altitude of orbital space becomes untenable to orbit
satellites in.
It's been speculated that a major space debris collision with the ISS
that causes it to break up would be exactly the thing to set this whole
scenario into action.
The Chinese may well have us by the balls here; either we negotiate a
treaty, or they start destroying their own satellites with ASATs to get
the chain reaction collision ball rolling.
Don't look now, but Grand Fenwick may have just gotten the Q-Bomb:
http://www.tigersweat.com/movies/mouse/ :-D
Or, as Muad'Dib would say..."He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing".
If that's what they have in mind, it's a stroke of pure political genius
on their part.
You'd expect nothing less from the country who came up with Sun Tzu's
"On The Art Of War" and Zen Buddhism.
Take a look, ladies and gentlemen... you may well be looking at the
country that establishes the first world government; not because they
are particularly good at it, but because everyone else is so completely
incompetent at it.
It never occurred to the Soviets that the way to conquer America wasn't
by subversion or military conquest, but rather by taking Lenin's dictum
to heart when he said: "You can always count on the capitalist to sell
you the rope you are going to hang him with."
That's on sale for $1.00 at your local Walmart this week. :-D

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote in
:

At least the Laser will just melt the thing into clump of
slag, and not go strewing bits of it all over the place in
LEO like the Chinese one did. As has been pointed out,
there's a point where you can blow up enough satellites in

Any laser powerful enough to "melt" a satellite won't have
that kind of finesse. It's very likey to create debris,
especially if any onboard propellants go up.

China has a lot to lose too; is their economy strong
enough to withstand a world-wide trade embargo if they
go far enough to cause the destruction of ISS? Russia
will be pretty hot, too.

All this for an island?

--Damon

Damon Hill wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote in
:


At least the Laser will just melt the thing into clump of
slag, and not go strewing bits of it all over the place in
LEO like the Chinese one did. As has been pointed out,
there's a point where you can blow up enough satellites in


Any laser powerful enough to "melt" a satellite won't have
that kind of finesse. It's very likey to create debris,
especially if any onboard propellants go up.

Not necessarily - in a vacuum, only heat conduction through its physical
structure would allow any surface heat to reach its propellant tanks.
You might be able to raise the temperature to several thousand degrees
on its exterior in a few seconds of laser exposure without having the
heat migrate to its interior to any great degree.
Once the solar arrays are either fused or completely severed by the
melting of their supports, the satellite is dead as a doornail.
Even in the case of a nuclear powered satellite such as the Soviet
RORSATs, the destruction of its heat radiators will cause its power
supply to overheat and fail in short order.
In any case, it will be a lot less energetic that a ASAT collision with
it at 18,000 mph.
The amount of energy released in such a situation is huge.



China has a lot to lose too; is their economy strong
enough to withstand a world-wide trade embargo if they
go far enough to cause the destruction of ISS?


Is ours, without their cheap imports? It would be one thing if we could
just restart our production at factories that were shut down once their
products arrived.
But those factories have been abandoned, everything in them sold, and
their workers laid off....and now have new jobs out of simple economic
necessity.

Pat

Damon Hill wrote:
China has a lot to lose too; is their economy strong
enough to withstand a world-wide trade embargo if they
go far enough to cause the destruction of ISS? Russia
will be pretty hot, too.

About what are you talking? They have this capability against recon
satellites, and against enemy communication satellites. ISS is
completely irrelevant from military point of view. Of course when they
will get that smelter working on large scales, and there would be
colony on Mars, they might reserve one missile for that. The rest of
about hundred missiles would be heading right to the earth. Until that
ISS doesn't participate in military plans of any country, and that play
toy could fall on the Earth under its own air drag.

One interesting aspect of this is that, as of this writing, China
*hasn't* declared the test. There's even some question about whether Hu
knew, and if so, how much.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/wo...rtner=homepage


January 22, 2007
U.S. Tries to Interpret China's Silence Over Test
By DAVID E. SANGER and JOSEPH KAHN

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 - Bush administration officials said that they
had been unable to get even the most basic diplomatic response from
China after their detection of a successful test to destroy a satellite
10 days ago, and that they were uncertain whether China's top
leaders, including President Hu Jintao, were fully aware of the test or
the reaction it would engender.

In interviews over the past two days, American officials with access to
the intelligence on the test said the United States kept mum about it
in hopes that China would come forth with an explanation.

It was more than a week before the intelligence leaked out: a Chinese
missile had been launched and an aging weather satellite in its path,
more than 500 miles above the earth, had been reduced to rubble. But
protests filed by the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia, among
others, were met with silence - and quizzical looks from officials in
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, who seemed to be caught unaware.

[etc.]

One interesting aspect of this is that, as of this writing, China
*hasn't* declared the test.

Now they have:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6289519.stm

China confirms satellite downed
Last Updated: Tuesday, 23 January 2007, 10:52 GMT
[EXCERPT]

China has confirmed it carried out a test that destroyed a satellite,
in a move that caused international alarm.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said a test had been carried
out but insisted China was committed to the "peaceful development of
outer space".

The US backed reports last week that China had used a ground-based
medium-range ballistic missile to destroy a weather satellite.

A senior Taiwanese politician said he viewed it as an aggressive act.

It is the first known satellite intercept test for more than 20 years.

Several countries, including Japan, Australia and the US, have
expressed concern at the test, amid worries it could trigger a space
arms race.

Until Tuesday, China had refused to confirm or deny the 11 January
test.

International concern

Liu Jianchao told reporters that China had notified "other parties
and... the American side" of its test.

Test sparks space arms fears

"But China stresses that it has consistently advocated the peaceful
development of outer space and it opposes the arming of space and
military competition in space," he told a news conference.

"China has never, and will never, participate in any form of space arms
race."

wrote in message
oups.com...

One interesting aspect of this is that, as of this writing, China
*hasn't* declared the test.

Now they have:


I get the paper a day in advance~



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6289519.stm

China confirms satellite downed
Last Updated: Tuesday, 23 January 2007, 10:52 GMT
[EXCERPT]

China has confirmed it carried out a test that destroyed a satellite,
in a move that caused international alarm.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said a test had been carried
out but insisted China was committed to the "peaceful development of
outer space".

The US backed reports last week that China had used a ground-based
medium-range ballistic missile to destroy a weather satellite.

A senior Taiwanese politician said he viewed it as an aggressive act.

It is the first known satellite intercept test for more than 20 years.

Several countries, including Japan, Australia and the US, have
expressed concern at the test, amid worries it could trigger a space
arms race.

Until Tuesday, China had refused to confirm or deny the 11 January
test.

International concern

Liu Jianchao told reporters that China had notified "other parties
and... the American side" of its test.

Test sparks space arms fears

"But China stresses that it has consistently advocated the peaceful
development of outer space and it opposes the arming of space and
military competition in space," he told a news conference.

"China has never, and will never, participate in any form of space arms
race."