Pawan Kumar
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Amid rapidly accumulating debris in low Earth orbit, the US is closely monitoring Chinese activities that could potentially threaten US assets in space. The head of America’s military mission in space said this on Friday. US Space Command Army Commander General James Dickinson welcomed the overwhelming passage of a resolution at the United Nations that stipulates that countries will not test direct-flying anti-satellite systems that would massively destroy space. By creating debris, they endanger the existence of satellites and space stations.
Of the four countries that have tested such an anti-satellite system, only the US voted in favor of the proposal. While China and Russia opposed the resolution, India abstained from voting. In a telephonic conversation with reporters in Asia, General Dickinson said, “We cannot continue to increase the debris in space.” Most of the debris is in the critical low Earth orbit, which has become very crowded and a hotbed of competition and conflict.
He said that the number of objects in space is increasing rapidly and even small pieces of metal can pose a threat. Dickinson said the US Space Command is currently monitoring more than 48,000 objects near Earth’s orbit, including satellites, telescopes, space stations and debris of all sizes. He told that three years ago the number of such items was around 25 thousand.
In 2003, China became the third country in the world after the US and the former Soviet Union to send humans into space. Since then its human space program has grown rapidly. In 2007, China faced a lot of international criticism for conducting an unannounced test of a missile to blow up one of its defunct satellites in space. Due to this test, debris was spread on a large scale in space, which still remains a threat.
Dickinson said Beijing sees space as an important factor not only for its economy and the global economy, but also for the military sector. In such a situation, when he is continuously increasing his space capabilities, then we are keeping a very close watch on his activities. Space is fast emerging as a potential center of conflict between the two countries amid rising tensions between the US and China over Taiwan, the South China Sea and trade and technology.
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In addition, the Pentagon released the annual China Security Report last week, which warned that Beijing could have 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035 and did not specify how it plans to use these weapons. intends to. Dickinson said that China is building capabilities that actually threaten most of our assets in space.
He said that Russia’s war against Ukraine has also shown that space is the center of conflict, which needs to be protected. It is a role that the US Space Command is taking very seriously.
