US Vice President Kamala Harris has said the US will no longer carry on anti - satellite missile tests , calling them “ dangerous ” and “ rash ” in a recent assurance for blank space safety .
Such tests have been conduct by multiple other nation , including Russia , China , and India , plus the US themselves against their own planet , though the uncontrolled destruction results in pregnant space detritus .
Now , the US calls on other nations to follow suit and no longer conduct these test .
" Simply put , these tests are grave , and we will not conduct them , " said Harris at aspeechat the Vandenberg Space Force base .
The US previouslyconducted anti - satellite missile tryout in 2008 , with a modify SM-3 missile destroy a malfunctioning reconnaissance mission satellite . More recently , Russia conducted a similar test against a Soviet - epoch satellite . This resulted in a cloud of shrapnel directly in the path of the ISS , causing astronauts on board to shelter . The US condemned the act , though Russia responded bycallingthe US “ hypocritical " .
“ Russia has demo a deliberate disregard for the security , safety , stability , and long - term sustainability of the blank space domain for all nations , ” U.S. Space Command Commander James Dickinson say in a financial statement , reportsCNBC .
The most late statement by Vice President Harris put forward the administration is consecrate to ending these tests and calls on other country to enact a full ban on next anti - satellite trial run to see to it the safety of low - orbit satellites .
" This debris represent a peril to the rubber of our astronauts , our satellites , and our grow commercial front , " said Harris in the speech .
" A piece of space dust the size of a basketball , which jaunt at thousands of mile per time of day , would destroy a orbiter . Even a spell of dust as small-scale as a metric grain of sand could cause serious price . "
blank space dust is becoming an increasing problem as more and more commercial satellites are establish into range .
Around27,000 pieces of large debrisare always monitor by the Department of Defense ’s globular Space Surveillance web ( SSN ) , though there are importantly more that are too little to be accurately cut through . Of these , 23,000 are big than a softball and orbit Earth at incredible speeds , posing decided threats to both satellites and crewed blank space station like the ISS .
Multiple efforts are now being put through to attempt to limit the yield of space detritus , though such efforts would require global cooperation . A proscription on anti - satellite missile may go some way to assuage detritus production if the missiles were to become regularly used , though this is not the showcase at nowadays .
