Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C., said U.S. adversaries have been developing technologies designed to attack satellites, National Defense Magazine reported Monday.
The think thank recently published a report that tackles the four different aspects threatening U.S. space assets: kinetic physical, non-kinetic physical, cyber and electronic.
Kinetic physical threats directly come into contact with a satellite, and non-kinetic threats include lasers that do not require direct contact to destroy targets, said Todd Harrison, director of CSIS’ Aerospace Security Project.
Kaitlyn Johnson, the project’s associate director, said China has made a ground-based missile-like system designed to strike satellites operating in orbit.
Electronic threats jam a satellite’s signals, and cyber threats endanger the data within those signals. Russia has engaged in the development of GPS-spoofing technology, the report referenced from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies.
