The United States’ Air Force (USAF) has a new tool to help keep our country safe from disasters coming from both Earth and outer space. The so-called Space Fence is a new system of radars that will be used to trace objects as small as a softball in outer space to protect domestic satellites from damage.
Although one of the primary uses of the system will be to protect the technology from space debris, the design also functions as a military deterrent.
“There’s a reason why the military is doing this,” Said Brian Weeden, the technical advisor for the Secure World Foundation. “A big part of that is they are worried about not only debris collisions with military satellites, but potential adversaries using small space objects to try and attack satellites.”
The U.S. Military is worried about the development of cube satellites, small objects with edges that might be about four inches long. “There’s a sense of concern that these small devices could potentially be used to attack bigger satellites,” Weeden said.
Experts also believe that the satellite radar can act as a preventative measure by holding those who engage in extra-terrestrial warfare accountable.
“The first part of deterrence is attribution,” Omar Lamrani, a senior military analyst for military intelligence firm Stratfor, told Fox News. “In other words, if a country like Russia or China knows that the United States would be able to attribute a hostile action in space, they are less likely to do it.”
Fox News Science’s original report can be read on their website here.
May 23rd, 2016