CHINESE FIREWORKS
Remember the Whistling
MoonTraveller, or Bright Star Night? The goofy, broken-english names of the
Chinese fireworks of our youth. I remember having as much fun mocking the
silly names with a faux-Chinese accent as I did lighting the fuse. And,
speaking of lighting a fuse, China did just that in January by means of a
quiet event which received little attention, but which carries significant
meaning for the United States.
The Fengyun 1-C weather satellite had been a reliable worker for the Chinese
space program since being launched in May of 1999. It produced volumes of
weather information and information regarding solar activity. Now, it is a
little cloud of debris orbiting the planet. That's because in January, China
blasted the poor little thing into pieces using a land-based anti-satellite
missile from its southwestern spaceport, Xichang. The event is sobering, as
it is the first kill of a satellite by a land-based missile ever conducted
by any nation. Yes, that includes the Untied States and Russia. Yesterday,
China launched a Long March 3-A rocket that delivered a navigation satellite
as part of China's Global Positioning System. The message from China is
hardly subtle...they are ready, willing and able to challenge the United
States in the space frontier. They launched their first manned space flight
in 2003 and a second in 2005. They are moving forward at breathtaking speed
with their technology, and the eradication of a satellite with a land-based
missile sends a dangerous message.
"The successful test of a Chinese direct-ascent anti-satellite weapon
represents a new and dangerous phase of Chinese foreign policy," said Tom
Ehrhard, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and senior fellow with the Center
for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, a military think tank. "Despite
official statements about its 'peaceful use', China aims to challenge the
internationally recognized sanctity of the 'commons', those areas like
international waters, airspace, cyberspace, and space itself," he said.
Pardon the pun, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand
the implications of what has occurred here. As I first read this article, my
mind rushed ahead, as yours probably is right now, to the obvious
implications here.
Satellites are the central nervous system of our current military. They are
used extensively, indeed almost exclusively, for everything military. They
are used to guide missiles, provide global, instant communications, provide
detailed information on enemy movements and positions, and of course to
gather other top secret information. U.S. military strategists have for
decades worried about the increasing vulnerability of this system. A report
in 2001 declared that the U.S. is "an attractive candidate for a Space Pearl
Harbor". These same people have urged that the country needs desperately to
develop systems to protect the satellites. It is a glaring vulnerability
that would cause a complete breakdown of our military ability. A brazen
assault on our satellite system could leave us, literally, in the dark
defense-wise, with just a handful of blown-up satellites.
Such it is in the new age. This was the stuff of science fiction just
decades ago, and here we are now faced with protecting an entire new
frontier. We can't even keep it together on the planet, now we need to
police space. Think of the job opportunities. To think that in High School,
as a member of the loosely-formed "Space Patrol", I was accidentally
training for a future career. Not surprisingly, it never crossed my mind.
Joking aside, it is an ominous development. With Iran proceeding with their
nuclear technology, and surely the missiles to deliver the warheads can't be
far behind, it causes one pause to think of satellite-blasting technology in
the hands of that crazy midget. Just more to think about, like we needed it,
but as dour as it is, I actually found it to be a relief from the Imus
story. Leave it to the Chinese to distract me, just like they used to with
the Whistling Moon Traveller.