Interaction: How to destroy satellites

Myers: Good evening, and welcome to this week’s edition of Interaction, wherein you get to see what the world’s reaction to the news is. Unless it’s a poorly considered knee jerk reaction, which it usually seems to be. Our topic today is the recent test of an anti-satellite missile by the People’s Republic of China, which reportedly destroyed a decommissioned weather satellite. The Chinese foreign ministry claims that it does not intend to participate in a space arms race. However, this would appear to be the starter’s pistol in such a race, and though the Outer Space Treaty bans weapons of mass destruction, it does not prohibit conventional weapons in space. Will China engage in an arms buildup in competition against the United States, Russia, India, or another space power? Will China stop testing such weaponry, as the United States and the Soviet Union did in the 1980s when they first developed the same capability? And who will clean up this massive field of débris? With us now are some people who will try to address these questions. In Beijing, China PR, we have a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Mr Deng Liao.

Deng: Hello.

Myers: In Washington, DC, we have a spokesperson for the United States Department of Defence, Ms Lily Peng.

Peng: Good day.

Myers: In Madrid, Spain, we have the editor-in-chief of Análisis Espacial magazine, Mr Ricardo Pinsañado.

Pinsañado: Good evening Debbie.

Myers: And with me here in our Warwickshire studios, we have the director of the London Co-operative Space Policy Centre and author of Everything in Space is Under Threat, Ms Winnie Quitts.

Quitts: Hi.

Myers: Good to have all of you here. Liao, perhaps you can begin by telling us just what happened in this test.

Deng: Well, Debbie, I’m afraid that I am unable to comment on that at this time.

Myers: All right. Lily, can you tell us anything about the test?

Peng: No. I’m not authorised to discuss these matters with reporters.

Myers: Ricardo, can you tell us about this test?

Pinsañado: Well, the only information I have is what was published by Aviation Week and Space Technology earlier this week. This was a major scoop for Av Week, which has long had contacts throughout the US government and often reports items like this. There’s no particular reason people should go to Av Week when they want to leak something, as opposed to, say, Space Matters or even our own magazine.

Myers: Yes, but... well, let’s move on to you, Winnie. Can you tell us anything about this test?

Quitts: Well, again, since no one else is particularly forthcoming –

Myers: That’s certainly true.

Quitts: We’ve had to piece together this matter from whatever appears in news articles. According to Aviation Week, as Ricardo mentioned, a kill vehicle was launched from China on the eleventh of January. It would have impacted a weather satellite, the Feng Yun 1C, launched in 1999. The impact would have blown the satellite into many pieces.

Myers: Okay. Well, there are many more questions about this event, and let’s see what questions you have about it. You can, as usual, reach us in a number of different ways, including telephone, text message, E-mail, snail mail, facsimile, and shaving cream on a plate glass window. We’ll begin with a question from our E-mailbox, and it’s from Jennifer in Albany, WA, Australia. She asks if weather satellites are under threat, and if so, how China would know if a typhoon was heading its way. An interesting question, Liao, is China intending to target weather satellites?

Deng: I am sorry, Debbie. I cannot discuss that matter.

Myers: Okay. Lily, does US intelligence suggest anything as to China’s intentions to target weather satellites?

Peng: I can’t talk about any intelligence matters at this time.

Myers: Ricardo or Winnie? Do either of you have anything you can share about this?

[Pause.]

Quitts: I haven’t heard anything one way or the other.

Pinsañado: Me neither.

Myers: Well... let’s have another question. Derek in Carson City, NV, USA, are you there?

Derek in Carson City: Yes, hi.

Myers: Hello Derek. What is your question?

Derek in Carson City: I was wondering about the débris left by this test. How many pieces are there, how long are they likely to remain in orbit, and how might they threaten other satellites?

Myers: Another very good question. Hopefully we can get an answer this time. Ricardo, how much débris is believed to have been produced by this test?

Pinsañado: Well, again, you would have to go to the débris tracking institutions at NORAD, but when the US and USSR carried out similar tests about twenty years ago, several thousand objects, of sizes down to a few centimetres, were tracked. Any one of them could have damaged or disabled other satellites in orbit, including the very small, untrackable pieces. Some reports said that this débris remained in orbit until about 2002.

Myers: Would you expect this test to produce similar patterns of débris?

Pinsañado: Well, I can’t determine that from what information is available. It really makes you wonder why nobody ever leaks things like this to someone like Análisis Espacial. We’re just as recognised as any other weekly aerospace publication. We’re very good with information like that. We won’t throw our sources under busses or anything like that. We protect our sources, even under threat of imprisonment.

Myers: Liao or Lily, do either of you have anything to add about that?

Peng: I can’t comment on where we leak our information. Every time information like that is leaked, it hinders our ability to wage war against this enemy.

Myers: Wait. You mean the US is planning to wage war against China?

Peng: Oh, sorry. I was just so used to saying that about terrorists.

Myers: Okay. We’ll now move on to our next question. Tracy in London, England, UK, are you there?

Tracy in London: I’m here. Hi.

Myers: Good evening Tracy. What is your question?

Tracy in London: Well, I was wondering, since nobody has anything to say, why don’t you just send everyone home?

Myers: A good question there from Tracy. Winnie, why don’t we just send everybody home?

Quitts: I don’t know. Because of the advertisers?

Myers: If we leave now, they’ll fill up the whole rest of the hour with adverts. Isn’t that what the advertisers want? So I’ll tell you what. We’re going to end this show now. Thanks to Ms Winnie Quitts, Mr Ricardo Pinsañado, Ms Lily Peng, and Mr Deng Liao for joining us this week. Next week, we’ll be talking about the natural gas gripe between Russia and Belarus. We’ll be talking to natural gas experts from the EU, Belarus, and Russia, along with someone who makes art from natural gas. We invite you to submit your questions for next week’s guests at our website, interaction.goobnet.net. Until then, good night.

Deng: I will be happy to come back next week. There are many other issues about which I am not authorised to speak publicly.

Peng: Liao, would you like to go somewhere and not speak publicly about things together?