Space Wars of the 21st Century

Satellites are so valuable as an asset that destroying them can be recognised as an act of war. The question is whether this war has already started or are we yet to witness it?

Last year, India launched 'Mission Shakti', establishing itself in the "satellite destroying club" - a feat which has already been achieved by China, US and Russia.

The mission Shakti is an ASAT ( direct ascent anti satellite weapon). ASAT is basically a missile launched from the ground to destroy a satellite. It has a 'kill vehicle' mounted on its top. This kill vehicle is a metal chunk, which detaches itself when the missile exits the atmosphere. It steers its course towards the satellite ,with an extremely high orbital velocity so that the satellite is completely turned into a heap of space dust and metal .

There are various less aggressive ways to attack satellites : satellites are just computers floating in space which are quite vulnerable to cyber attacks that can disable or hijack them. A satellite can be destroyed by a computer programme that makes all its propellant run away or points its optical sensors towards the sun, thereby burning them. Jamming involves forming a 'frequency bubble' to block the communication of the satellite with the ground. Jamming is quite hard to distinguish from unintentional interference. Insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan have been known to use jammers. Russia uses jamming on Ukraine to attack its satellite systems. Spoofing involves sending fake signals to trick the ground station and other receivers which rely on these assets. US and Russia have been reported to use spoofing to protect their presidents from potential drone assassination. Jamming and spoofing can sow doubt about relying on one’s own equipment, making them extremely difficult to detect.

A recent advancement in this field is the  use of lasers to cripple the satellite. Presently no nation has the ability to produce lasers in space, which require a huge amount of energy. However, the Chinese have developed an aircraft based mounted laser system which can temporarily destroy the optical sensors of the satellite, thus preventing it from photographing sensitive locations. These lasers have to be aimed very precisely and require 'complex adaptive optics'. If one wants to just spy on the activities of a satellite, "Co-Orbital" attack is the best technique. In this technique a satellite is directed towards another satellite (the target), which then maneuvers itself in the orbit of the target and waits for action. It gives complete access to the enemy satellite.

The first test, which was a failed attempt, of the ASAT satellite was carried out by the USA in 1958, just two years after the first artificial satellite (Sputnik-1) was launched. During the cold-war era the production of anti-satellite weapons heightened. USA had developed missiles that could be used to launch fighter jets as well as 'nuclear- tipped' missiles. China successfully launched its first ASAT in 2007. Till date there has been no satellite destruction due to fear of nuclear wars, as most of the space faring nations are also nuclear superpowers. The increasing dependence of nations on their satellite system can pose a great threat to them in near future. Today, most of the civilian infrastructure and military operations are based on satellites. The 'Reaper drone' of the US works on a feeder from the satellite to sanitize its target. According to a Chinese assessment, the USA uses space to aid  90% of its military operations. Thus attacks on satellites could lead to worldwide chaos and affect a state's economy. Minor powers, like North Korea and Iran, are also gaining access to weapons that can bloody the noses of big powers.

In recent times Russia and China have been developing counterspace operations faster than the US, to their satellites. However, in defense the US has been developing (NTS-3), to be launched in 2022. It has been equipped with programmable steer antenna to emit signals at high frequency, thus avoiding jammers. Project 'BLACKJACK'  based on the 'constellation approach', in which just one satellite is not that important, is also being developed by DARPA. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) was formed which prohibits weapons of mass destruction on celestial bodies. Although spacefaring nations have signed the treaty long ago, but ambitions of the treaty to codify peaceful use of space appears in gray space. The underlying problem is the continued mistrust among the major spacepowers.

Today we are not prepared adequately to stop a conflict in space. And our lack of preparation  undermines deterrence and makes space conflict more likely.

By Utkarsh Bajpai