Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the results of the recent India anti satellite test, shows that even a limited outbreak of anti satellite warfare in orbit… would make orbit unusable for perhaps a century or more. This is a very big deal. Government’s from Imperial China, Russia and the US have already demonstrated anti satellite capabilities. Moreover, the increase in tensions across the globe makes such a possibility likely. Think about the ramifications of making orbit unusable. Telcom satellites would quickly collide with debris from the fight and become useless, television satellites would become a thing of the past, weather forecasting by satellite imagery gone, all simply adding to the debris field. Such a situation should be avoided at all costs, but in their genius, the global elite are barreling towards it.
A few months ago India knocked out one of their own satellites. The space community was up in arms since some of the debris field will be in orbit for perhaps a decade. This leads to a danger to other important space hardware. The International Space Station among them. India claimed the debris will deorbit quickly since the target satellite was in a low orbit. Yet, the explosion kicked some of the debris into a higher orbit, making it more dangerous and long lasting. While the US was indignant, the US government has conducted similar tests and China has also destroyed satellites in orbit. No nation is without sin in this regard. Nevertheless, building and testing equipment is a sure sign it could be used in the future, to our great disservice.
Imagine the debris field that would be generated if the US’ Geo positioning satellite constellation was destroyed in a conflict?!?! Hundreds of satellites breaking into millions of bits, spreading to random orbits? That would be like stray neutrons in a pile of uranium 235. The effect would cascade as more satellites were destroyed by impact with debris from earlier events. Eventually orbit itself would become too dangerous to operate in. Once that happens, say goodbye to many of the things we take for granted today. Google Earth would be stuck at whatever date the conflict made orbit unusable, mineral locating by satellite would end, intercontinental calls would have to be routed via underwater lines, television would be back to cable and open air, etc… our whole way of life would have to change.
If orbit becomes unusable getting people to the Moon and Mars would become impossible. Many people would like to see mankind become an interplanetary species. Others would rather lock us onto Earth forever. A conspiracy theorist might conclude, anyone who doesn’t want mankind to become an interplanetary species, need only start a war in orbit, and we would be trapped here for a century or more. Simply get one nation to test anti satellite weapons, to force everyone else to catch up, and the race is off. Of course, anyone who is so conniving as to do such a thing, would have to be psychopathic or sociopathic. Regardless of who or why it is done, a war in orbit would guarantee we stay a single planetary species, for the foreseeable future.
What is needed, is an international agreement not to wage warfare in orbit, such an accord might protect orbit for awhile. This is an imperative, because other than nuclear war, nothing else has such global implications and long lasting consequences. The inevitable war for water and resources on the Moon, the coming genocidal religious wars in Europe, the wars of conquest Imperial China will launch against her neighbors and any other major conflict, as long as nuclear weapons are withheld, will have only local effects, while an orbital conflict, against orbital assets, will have long lasting and global effects. Perhaps even existential, if an asteroid is predicted to impact earth… and because of our foolishness we have lost the ability to divert it, we will have forged our own extinction.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
