Russia’s space weapon: Is it nuclear and does it pose a threat?

The US authorities has privately warned lawmakers and European allies that Russia plans to launch a space weapon with doable nuclear capabilities, in line with a flurry of stories.

The information broke after Mike Turner, chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, issued a vague warning about a “serious national security threat” and urged US president Joe Biden to “declassify all information relating to this threat” for the aim of extra public discussions. Since then, information stories have revealed extra particulars about what the Russian thriller weapon may be. Here is what we all know to date.

Does this imply Russia goals to place nuclear missiles or bombs in space?

This stays unclear. Reports from ABC News and The New York Times use the time period “nuclear weapon”, which might imply a weapon able to producing an explosion involving nuclear fission or fusion reactions. If that is true, it would violate the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which bans signatory nations – together with Russia and the US – from putting nuclear or different weapons of mass destruction in space.

A nuclear explosion in space wouldn’t instantly hurt folks on Earth, however it might destroy and disable a number of satellites. When the US detonated a nuclear bomb in low Earth orbit throughout its Starfish Prime check in 1962, the ensuing radiation broken or destroyed about one-third of satellites in low Earth orbit on the time.

But there may be one other chance that does not contain nuclear weapons.

What else might Russia’s nuclear functionality in space be?

The Russian space weapon might merely use nuclear energy to offer power for its onboard techniques. PBS News Hour cited US officers describing the Russian weapon as “possibly nuclear-powered”.

Both Russia and the US have used completely different types of nuclear energy in space for many years. One type entails nuclear fission reactors, equivalent to these present in civilian nuclear crops, which draw energy from an ongoing nuclear chain response.

The US launched an experimental nuclear reactor into space in 1965, whereas Russia launched not less than 34 nuclear reactors aboard satellites between 1967 and 1988, in line with the World Nuclear Association.

The US, Russia and different nations have additionally launched space missions powered by radioisotope techniques. These harness warmth from the pure decay of radioactive supplies as a supply of electrical energy – however they provide a lot much less energy than nuclear fission reactors.

What does this Russian space weapon really do?

News stories agree that the Russian weapon is designed to focus on satellites in space as a substitute of instantly harming anybody or something on the bottom. However, if the weapon is able to knocking satellites out of orbit, these objects might fall to the planet’s floor and trigger severe injury. If it blows them to items, the ensuing clouds of space particles might threaten different satellites and even the International Space Station. This would possibly even set off a Kessler syndrome state of affairs, the place a chain response of space particles cascades uncontrolled and makes it virtually unattainable for satellites to outlive in Earth orbit.

Various nations – together with Russia, the US, China and India – have all beforehand examined anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons that contain launching missiles from Earth to shoot down objects in orbit. But nations have been a lot quieter about whether or not they have really deployed ASAT weapons in space.

What has Russia mentioned about this doable weapon?

A spokesperson for Russian president Vladimir Putin’s authorities described the US warning as a “malicious fabrication” supposed to spur the US Congress to cross a invoice authorising extra navy support for Ukraine, in line with Reuters. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US and Europe have been backing Ukraine’s navy resistance towards Russian forces.

Why would Russia need a new anti-satellite weapon?

Satellites are essential for each navy and civilian purposes which have a large impression on trendy life. They monitor the climate, energy GPS techniques, present space-based surveillance and allow communication – for instance, SpaceX’s swarm of Starlink satellites has confirmed very important for Ukraine’s navy forces in coordinating drone and artillery strikes towards Russian forces on the battlefield.

The US officers cited by PBS News Hour steered that the Russian space weapon has “electronic warfare capability to target American satellites that are essential for U.S. military and civilian communication”.

Russia has spent years creating space-based digital warfare techniques able to jamming the communications alerts to and from satellites, in line with a report by the Secure World Foundation, a space safety organisation based mostly in Colorado. Victoria Samson on the Secure World Foundation said that such Russian space weapons could possibly be nuclear-powered.

So how harmful might this new anti-satellite weapon be?

The excellent news is, if this space weapon jams satellites quite than bodily destroying them, it gained’t trigger catastrophic space particles situations like Kessler syndrome. However, it might nonetheless be harmful.

A space weapon that makes use of digital warfare to jam alerts might successfully disable satellites. That might disrupt essential battlefield communications, depart GPS-guided techniques inoperative, blind spy satellites and make it harder for the US to coordinate its navy forces internationally.