Space War: Russian threats to knock down satellites in a dead end of Western lawyers
This statement has caused the concern of lawyers working with space law, as such a threat puts at the forefront of an unverified field of international law, Reuters writes. Similar actions of Russians during the war in Ukraine can sharply exacerbate the tension between Russia and the United States. Currently, Ukrainian troops are largely counting on SpaceX Satellite Internet Satellite Internet.
Ukraine also uses satellite images of the American company Maxar, tens of thousands of communication devices in Ukraine rely on the satellite network of the Iridium satellite communication. Musk with comments on possible threat reflected. Iridium Matt Desh Executive Director has stated that it is impossible to knock objects in space, since the Earth has already become dirty, such incidents will make space unusable.
The US Presidential Administration responded concisely: the White House Representative John Kirby said that there would be an answer to any attack on the United States infrastructure, but he did not resort to details. "The legal aspects of all this at the moment are not really clear," said Bryan Widen, space policy analyst in Secure World Foundation. "We have no examples of using force against satellites in wartime - there is really nothing to start.
" Lawyers say that the question remains whether the Russian blow will raise the Space Treaty in 1967, which prohibits the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space. There is also a 1972 Convention on the Liability of Russia. It provides that countries have to pay compensation for any losses caused by space objects. The publication reminds that in 2021 the Russian Federation demonstrated the action of a sipping rocket in one of its old satellites in orbit, destroying it completely.
After the February invasion, Western officials and companies began to blame Moscow of repeated attempts by hacking and suppression of satellite Internet signals. In addition to Russia, the tests were conducted by the United States, China and India. The use of such weapons condemn Western politicians and astronomers who are experiencing dangerous orbital debris.
Such garbage jeopardizes critically important cosmic infrastructure, from piloted space stations to GPS networks, which are entrusted with millions of consumer and government platforms around the world. It is obvious that the Russians are primarily annoyed by the use of the Armed Forces of Satellite Communication.
However, the Starlink space network is built of approximately 3,000 interconnected satellites surrounding the ground, and potential insufficiency attacks can only be aimed at a small part of the network without disrupting it completely. "This complicates the calculations for the enemy," said Lieutenant General Philip Garrant, Deputy Commander of the US Space forces on Strategy and Operations. "If there are many satellites, they do not know which one is aiming at.
" Therefore, experts are convinced that the destruction of several objects will not have a noticeable effect. Recall that on October 25, the International Space Station was forced to change orbit, so as not to face space debris that was on its way. According to American journalists, the fragments of the Space-1408 apparatus were threatened to the ISS, which was destroyed during Russia's testing of sipping weapons in Earth orbit.