{"id":30030,"date":"2023-06-13T13:40:54","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T13:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space"},"modified":"2023-06-13T13:50:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T13:50:23","slug":"us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space","title":{"rendered":"US\u2019 New Spy Satellite Constellation: Another Small Step Toward Militarization of Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The US military is planning to deploy a new constellation of spy satellites, ostensibly to keep an eye on Chinese and Russian satellites with the capability to attack other spacecraft in orbit.<\/p>\n

Asked for comment, Russian Academy of Sciences Space Research Institute senior researcher Nathan Eismont outlined what steps Moscow may take in response.<\/p>\n

Space Force intends to place its new \u2018Silent Barker\u2019 satellite constellation in geosynchronous orbit above Earth this summer to assist a dense network of ground-based sensors monitoring adversaries\u2019 activities in space.<\/p>\n

The classified \u201csituational awareness\u201d program started out as a collaboration between Air Force Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a \u2018big five\u2019 intelligence agency subordinated to the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n

The constellation will provide the Pentagon with \u201ccapabilities to search, detect, and track objects from space for timely threat detection,\u201d according to the NRO.<\/p>\n

The grouping is also expected to \u201cdramatically increase\u201d Space Force\u2019s ability to track \u201cadversary satellites\u201d maneuvering around or near US craft, thus allowing the Pentagon to \u201creally figure out\u201d what\u2019s going on in space with new precision.<\/p>\n

The development, which comes amid the controversial, openly stated US military plans to turn outer space as a \u201cwarfighting domain\u201d despite Russian and Chinese efforts to rein in the militarization of space going back to 2008, is somewhat worrying but not unexpected, Eismont says.<\/p>\n

\u2018Psychologically Unpleasant\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is undoubtedly militarization, because the switch to tasks which stand apart from those demanded by science or the national economy are quite clearly visible here,\u201d the veteran space physicist told Sputnik.<\/p>\n

Spy satellites are generally useful because they scratch a key itch major space powers have \u2013 namely that \u201cif we want to be sure that we do not need to take any special measures, we must be aware of what is happening in space,\u201d the scientist said.<\/p>\n

Recalling that the practice of using special radar-equipped satellites to monitor other satellites goes back to the 1960s and the very dawn of the space age, the researcher said the new spacecraft the Pentagon is hoping to place in orbit should in some sense be a return to capabilities it already had a decade ago.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also a sign that trust between the space powers is dropping, Eismont noted. \u201cIf we\u2019re talking about armed spacecraft, these are banned under existing agreements.
\nAs for anti-satellite satellites systems \u2013 these have been researched by most spacefaring powers for decades, with the US, Russia, China and India known to have tested them, albeit very rarely and very carefully, to avoid creating even more space debris.<\/p>\n

How Will Russia and China Respond? For now, Eismont said, Russia and China\u2019s priorities in responding to the US deployment should to be focused on maintaining parity with Washington.<\/p>\n

Whatever actions Moscow and Beijing end up taking, the academic doesn\u2019t expect the response to be public. \u201cWhy reveal everything?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhat we\u2019ll learn about all this is hard to say.<\/p>\n

Although of course the very knowledge that the opposing side has the same tools you do inevitably reduces the level of tension. We\u2019ll see how things develop.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Russia and China introduced the Proposed Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) Treaty, a comprehensive draft arms control agreement designed to ban the deployment of weaponry, anti-satellite craft and other space technology used for military purposes in outer space.<\/p>\n

Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly returned to the draft treaty in subsequent years as a jumping off point for negotiations with the US. However, successive administrations in Washington have rejected the treaty, characterizing it as a \u201cdiplomatic ploy\u201d designed to allow Russia and China \u201cto gain a military advantage\u201d over the US.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the US Air Force Space Command formally characterized space as a \u201cwar-fighting domain just like the air, land, cyberspace and maritime. \u201d In 2019, the Trump administration created Space Force as a separate branch of the US military, endowing it with a complement of 8,400+ personnel, 77 spacecraft and satellites, and a budget of over $26.3 billion in FY2023.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The US military is planning to deploy a new constellation of spy satellites, ostensibly to keep an eye on Chinese and Russian satellites with the capability to attack other spacecraft in orbit. Asked for comment, Russian Academy of Sciences Space Research Institute senior researcher Nathan Eismont outlined what steps Moscow may take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,246,245,443],"class_list":["post-30030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-us"],"yoast_head":"\nUS\u2019 New Spy Satellite Constellation: Another Small Step Toward Militarization of Space - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US military is planning to deploy a new constellation of spy satellites, ostensibly to keep an eye on Chinese and Ru ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US\u2019 New Spy Satellite Constellation: Another Small Step Toward Militarization of Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US military is planning to deploy a new constellation of spy satellites, ostensibly to keep an eye on Chinese and Ru ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-13T13:40:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-13T13:50:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1686647890.932187.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US\u2019 New Spy Satellite Constellation: Another Small Step Toward Militarization of Space\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-13T13:40:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-13T13:50:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space\"},\"wordCount\":693,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1686647890.932187.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"US\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-new-spy-satellite-constellation-another-small-step-toward-militarization-of-space\",\"name\":\"US\u2019 New Spy Satellite Constellation: Another Small Step Toward Militarization of Space - 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