Flexing Muscle, China Destroys Satellite in Test
China successfully carried out its first test of an antisatellite weapon last week, signaling its resolve to play a major role in military space activities and bringing expressions of concern from Washington and other capitals, the Bush administration said yesterday.Only two nations — the Soviet Union and the United States — have previously destroyed spacecraft in antisatellite tests, most recently the United States in the mid-1980s.
Arms control experts called the test, in which the weapon destroyed an aging Chinese weather satellite, a troubling development that could foreshadow an antisatellite arms race. Alternatively, however, some experts speculated that it could precede a diplomatic effort by China to prod the Bush administration into negotiations on a weapons ban.
This is something to be concerned about. It seems to me that speculation that this is a diplomatic ploy to get a weapons ban is wishful thinking. A ban would be desirable for us, as our military more reliant on sattelites then China’s is, but that of course means it would not be desirable for China.
Space will almost certainly be a major battlefield in the 21st century, and we should make sure we are prepared for that.
