Going Forward - GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones - page 191

announcement came days after a defunct Russian spacecraft crashed into the
Pacific Ocean near Chile. 46
U.S. officials raised alarms about China's antisatellite activities in 2006,
when on at least two reported occasions China aimed a ground-based laser at
a U.S. reconnaissance satellite. 47 Sensors on Kwajalein Atoll traced the source
of the laser to mainland China. 48 In January 2007 China used a ballistic mis-
sile warhead to destroy one of its obsolete weather satellites, creating more
than three thousand pieces of new debris. 49 The strike, which required hitting
the satellite as it traveled at nearly 17,000 mph, signaled that China's antisat-
ellite technology had advanced beyond that of the former Soviet Union. 50 A
year later the United States used a sea-based Navy Aegis ballistic missile inter-
ceptor to shoot down a dead spy satellite that was tumbling out of orbit. Offi-
cials said it was necessary to ensure that one thousand gallons of toxic thruster
propellant did not survive reentry and harm human health. 51 Critics at home
and abroad speculated that the United States, which had not conducted any
antisatellite exercises since the 1980s, contrived the action to send a message
to China. 52 However, unlike the Chinese incident, there were numerous public
explanations in advance of the shoot-down, and the impact occurred at an alti-
tude of about one hundred miles, so the debris burned up or fell to Earth soon
after. The Chinese strike left debris scattered at a ive-hundred-mile altitude,
where some sixty nations or government consortia today operate satellites. 53
While nonstate terrorist groups are unlikely to acquire rockets capable of
reaching the altitudes where gps and gnss satellites orbit, competition among
nations that have heavy launchers and field gnss satellites provides ample
opportunities for miscalculations or accidents. Direct missile strikes pose less
of a threat than other methods. China tested a microsatellite in late Decem-
ber 2008 that some analysts called a prototype for an antisatellite weapon.
During a manned mission that included a spacewalk, the crew released a
sixteen-inch cube weighing about ninety pounds that was capable of maneu-
vering around the spaceship. About four hours later the microsatellite flew
within fifteen and a half miles of the International Space Station. 54 The Chi-
nese said its purpose was to photograph and inspect their manned spacecraft.
Many analysts noted similarities to co-orbital antisatellite designs dating back
to the Cold War era. After the United States stopped overflying the Soviet
Union in 1960 and switched to spy satellites the Soviets began their is antis-
atellite program (“Istrebitel Sputnikov,” or fighter satellite). 55 They designed
these “kamikaze” satellites to carry explosives, launch like regular satellites,