South Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Brazil are in the early stages of developing small-scale launch capabilities and have the potential to become “minor” space powers.

The US is the most space dependent of the major space powers and stands to lose the most if any of its satellites are attacked. At last count, it had 216 satellites in orbit. This is why it is at the forefront of research and development (R&D) on antisatellites (ASAT)technology.It is also actively gathering intelligence on other countries that are modernizing their space programs.

Weapoponizing Space

An ASAT technology can be a satellites or any other device that can disable an enemy satellite by physically destroying it or interfering with its communications or power systems.

In the early years of the Cold War,air launched missiles were the main ASAT weapons.Later,these missiles were combined with miniature homing vehicles(MHVs) to track and destroy targets.

When the US managed to disrupt power trnasmission and comunications across the Pacific with its use of high-altitude nuclear weapons in 1958,an international treaty was drawn up to ban the use of nuclear weapons in space.

Eventually,manned and unmanned orbital ASATs were considered.The idea with manned ASATs was to have a manned space vehicles meet the target sateliite and then either disable or capture it.Later on,the concept was revised to equip the manned vehicle with standoff weapons,because the military use od automatic self-desturct in satellites would have made using manned vehicles without standoff weapon very dangerous.

Unmanned orbital ASATs like kamikase satellites,space mine dispensers,and single-use space interceptors,werealso developed and tested,but these were plagued by faulty guidance and interception systems.

In the 1980s,the US wanted to put into orbit platforms that could deploy up to 4,600″kinetic interceptors”but the technological requirements proved difficult to meet.

Directed-energy Weapons

Russia and the US exploredd the use of”directed energy”weapons,such as lasers.Russia is known to have started experimenting with ground-based lasers starting in the 1970s.The US started testing lasers as ground-based ASAT weapons in 1997 when it shot a high-powered laser beam at one of its aging Air Force satellites to gauge its vulnerability to attacks.The test showed that neither the sateliite nor its onboard sensor sufferd pemanent damage.

AS expected,this test drew concerned responses from other space powers regarding the potential harm to their satellites,treaty violations,and the future development of ASAT weapons.

At that time,the US said that it was simply trying to find ways of shielding its satellites from attacks.But a recent report from New Scientist showed such pronouncements to be false.In may 2006,the US Air Force requested funding for a project called Advanced Optics and LAser Space Tech,whose long term goal is to”perform atmospheric compensation/beam control experiment for applications including antisatellite weapon.

It is easy to see why the US is so protective of its satellites and so interested in ASATs.The US is able to maintain its strategic advancetage over other nations’militaries because of its superior satellite communications and intelligence capabilities.Without these,its role asa the sole remaining superpower would be seriously threatened.Gen. Lance Lord of the Colorado-baesd Air Force Space Command has candidly admitted that the U.S. has to “protect that advantage.You can’y go to war and win without space.”

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