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A space war is a war between nations that is conducted entirely or partially in space. This global catastrophic risk could have devastating consequences, particularly as the debris from a conflict would create extensive space junk.
In 2007, the Chinese shot down one of their aging satellites with a missile as a test of their technology. This raised tensions about the militarization of space that had been largely dormant for the past twenty years. The destruction of the Chinese satellite created more than 150,000 pieces of space junk. Several nations continued to campaign for agreements regarding the non-militarization of space, but despite its economy’s heavy reliance on satellites for important tasks such as communication, the United States refused to sign such an agreement.
In 2008 the U.S. shot down one of its aging satellites, showing off its anti-satellite technology. While this too drew protests, the U.S. claimed that the satellite contained dangerous fuel and that the satellite would enter an unpredictable trajectory when it fell from orbit. As such, a missile was used to limit the risk of the deadly hydrazine fuel.
The Outer Space Treaty treaty is an international agreement prohibiting space-based weapons of mass destruction, but the U.S. has resisted efforts to create a more encompassing treaty that would ban all or most weapons in space. Despite this, the U.S. would be one of the countries to suffer the greatest losses to infrastructure from the space junk from a space war, regardless of who was the victor. The U.S. is increasingly reliant on military and civilian satellites for communication, information, navigation, entertainment, science, and travel.
While there does not yet exist the capability for a full-out conflict between nations in space, Emerging technologies could lead in that direction. On the other hand, humans may choose to remain primarily on Earth until molecular manufacturing can be used to avoid the many dangers and disadvantages of existence in space. In any event, even a minor conflict in space could have devastating consequences, limiting the viability of certain satellites for decades.
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Space War News
Sources:
China shoots down satellite, drawing protests worldwide
Broken satellite will be shot down