Link: China carries out test of kinetic anti-satellite technology.
China today aimed a shot squarely across the bow of the Bush Administration's unrealistic plans to build unilateral military dominance in space. I've written about the background of the issue in the past, basically arguing that this Administration's initiatives to weaponize space risk setting off a costly and destabilizing arms race we cannot win.
China is warning the Bush Administration of the same thing. They are saying by their test that they may not be able to deploy the sophisticated weaponry in space we could, but that they have the ability and the will to compete with quick and dirty technology if forced. The sort of kinetic weapon China used spreads debris through heavily used, and commercially valuable, regions of space. China has signaled that they are willing to destroy the commercial viability of space technology if it means knuckling under to American hegemony in space.
China's test is an invitation to create a new and stronger legal regime controlling anti-satellite technology and military use of space, not an invitation to an arms race. China knows well that it can't win a space race with America, but it just demonstrated its willingness to ensure that a space weapons race is a game with no winners.
The KILL VEHICLE was designed by Hughes before Raytheon bought Hughes in the 1980's way before The Bush Administration; how do I know because my Father built the first Kill Vehicle at Hughes! The Kill Vehicle is full of ball bearings and explodes shooting them in every direction of an on coming warhead, destroying it. Phoney arguements said this Kill Vehicle violated the treaty of putting weapons in space but those idiots did not report that our Kill Vehicle had no other use than to destroy an approaching warhead with ball bearings NO ATOMIC BLAST or any other devise that could track or follow anything!
The Clinton Administration allowed China to get the gyros to launch this latest Chinese Kill Vehicle through the Loreal Corporation of which when the CEO was exposed for giving China the Gyros(all Chinese Rocket Tests FAILED before they got these gyros) he resigned and nothing more was said.
Having said that I wonder if China may be working a game with our government to make a need for The United States to have an excuse to develope the anti-anti-missile system now in Alaska? Russia has many systems that no one knows even exists and you will NOT read about them anywhere!
The Kill Vehicle was shelved by The Clinton Administration for over 8 years until started back up again in 2001 after Bush was elected.
I would like to see a network of systems that protects the Earth from an array of catastrophic events from asteroids to Solar Flares that disrupt communications!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | January 20, 2007 at 09:11 PM
Umm... not much that can be done to shield the earth from solar flares.... one can 'harden' electronic equipment to help protect critical sats and such from permanent damage, but it would be cost-prohibitive to replace all comm-sats, and there will be some interruptions as transmissions are garbled by the flares.
Unless you are suggesting placing a shield in space to deflect the flares entirely???? Which is just plain friggin rediculous.
Posted by: azwildcat88 | January 23, 2007 at 12:00 PM