Orbital Overwatch: The Crucial Role of Lasers in Space-Based Intelligence

The danger of catastrophic collisions in space between active satellites and debris has been exacerbated by tests of direct ascent anti-satellite missiles by various nations, prompting the US to announce a unilateral moratorium on such tests in 2022. Juliana Suess, a research fellow for space security at RUSI, notes that debris from the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test endangered the International Space Station in 2021. ‘Anti-satellite weapons can potentially create a large field of debris which can be dangerous to the other satellites in orbit. And so obviously, there has been a multitude of efforts to prevent counter-space weapons from proliferating,’ Suess explains.