Space arms treaty should consider threat posed by debris, says EU

“From the Cold War and onwards we’ve seen the US, Russia and China exploring anti-satellite missiles,” says Alexandra Stickings, who works on space policy and security at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute. “We’ve also seen a move towards non-kinetic threats to satellites. These are things like lasers that can be used to dazzle optical sensors; micro-frequencies that can be used to interfere with electronics and disable or disrupt satellites without necessarily destroying them. “The problem is that it’s very difficult to define what a weapon in space is – and this is why the current treaties don’t cover any of this.”