The US Space Force has deployed "space control weapons" into orbit, although it stopped short of explaining what they are and how it got there.
One wag on social media dubbed the consequences of an ill-thought-out ballistic weapon as "Mutually Assured Kessler Syndrome."
The Outer Space Treaty went into force in 1967, but the superpowers have found ways to work around it over the years.
The Register spoke to Dr Bleddyn Bowen, Associate Professor in Astropolitics at Durham University and author of Original Sin: Power, Technology and War in Outer Space even if the public pronouncements and confirmations from the US were.
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How
Summarized version
The Outer Space Treaty went into force in 1967, but the superpowers have found ways to work around it over the years.
The report’s most important sentence, shortened and in plain words. How
Headline check
The headline claims nothing the report does not, but it puts it more firmly than the report does.
The headline states “confirms” outright. In the report the claim is attributed to somebody, or hedged.
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The article, shortened and in plain language
The US Space Force has deployed "space control weapons" into orbit, although it stopped short of explaining what they are and how it got there.
US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink reportedly spoke at the Air and Space Forces Association conference and said the US had deployed weaponry around Earth.
Something that could jam satellite communications is possible, or a device that could fire a pulse to disable electronics.
One wag on social media dubbed the consequences of an ill-thought-out ballistic weapon as "Mutually Assured Kessler Syndrome."
Kessler Syndrome is a theoretical situation in which space around Earth becomes so crowded that collisions between objects cause a cascade of debris, eventually making orbital space inaccessible. A ballistic weapon that could generate a cloud of space junk is therefore less than ideal.
The Outer Space Treaty went into force in 1967, but the superpowers have found ways to work around it over the years.
The Soviet Union, for example, fitted Salyut 3 with a self-defense gun. The station was launched in 1974. The current Golden Dome plan, espoused by the current US administration, calls for a constellation of satellites with detection and interception capabilities.
The Register spoke to Dr Bleddyn Bowen, Associate Professor in Astropolitics at Durham University and author of Original Sin: Power, Technology and War in Outer Space even if the public pronouncements and confirmations from the US were. "The Americans, of course, really don't want any more debris in space," he said, so doing something kinetic in geostationary orbits is unlikely.
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The RegisterUS confirms it has weapons in spaaaaaaceplain
Ars TechnicaFor the first time, the US military confirms it has deployed weapons in orbitplain
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