The global impact of China, in an unexpected sphere
During some time spent with a former teacher over fall break, I learned of an occurrence that had somehow escaped my radar when it actually happened almost two years ago. Some of my previous blogs have been about how China's decisions have global impact. Many other people in the world talk about this as well, and it is usually in reference to economics, politics or the environment. The event I will discuss could be classified under the topic of "environment," but that classification alone is not a sufficient definition.
On January 17, 2007, China employed an anti-satellite (ASAT) device to destroy one of their own weather satellites. The manner in which they did so has been criticized by many groups. The satellite was shot from a range of approximately 860 kilometers, and it launched at a speed of about eight kilometers per second in a direction opposite that of the satellite. Because of this relatively great distance as compared to other instances of countries shooting down their satellites, and because of the fact that it was hit by the ASAT head on, the destruction of this satellite has caused a lot of problems. And it is likely that we have not yet experienced the majority of these.
A handful of images have been created that pinpoint the locations of all the trackable debris from the weather satellite's explosion. The amount of debris is uncharacteristically high because of China's seeming miscalculation or lack of care. This incident elicited adamant responses from several other governments worried about how the debris would affect their own space programs. This is a legitimate concern because this debris could cause damage to satellites already in orbit, or it could interfere with new satellites or other vessels being put into space. In my opinion, questioning and maybe even challenging China's right to get rid of a satellite in such a haphazard manner is justified. But this also appears to be a realm in which vague and negligible legislation exists. Perhaps, as space programs continue to expand and space debris continues to accumulate, a more clear body of protocol governing space programs should be formulated.
On January 17, 2007, China employed an anti-satellite (ASAT) device to destroy one of their own weather satellites. The manner in which they did so has been criticized by many groups. The satellite was shot from a range of approximately 860 kilometers, and it launched at a speed of about eight kilometers per second in a direction opposite that of the satellite. Because of this relatively great distance as compared to other instances of countries shooting down their satellites, and because of the fact that it was hit by the ASAT head on, the destruction of this satellite has caused a lot of problems. And it is likely that we have not yet experienced the majority of these.
A handful of images have been created that pinpoint the locations of all the trackable debris from the weather satellite's explosion. The amount of debris is uncharacteristically high because of China's seeming miscalculation or lack of care. This incident elicited adamant responses from several other governments worried about how the debris would affect their own space programs. This is a legitimate concern because this debris could cause damage to satellites already in orbit, or it could interfere with new satellites or other vessels being put into space. In my opinion, questioning and maybe even challenging China's right to get rid of a satellite in such a haphazard manner is justified. But this also appears to be a realm in which vague and negligible legislation exists. Perhaps, as space programs continue to expand and space debris continues to accumulate, a more clear body of protocol governing space programs should be formulated.
posted by Whitemoth at 2:16 PM
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