James Francis

In 2021, China launched a missile that destroyed one of its old weather satellites, causing an international furore. It created a cloud of space debris, putting satellites and the International Space Station at risk. It also touched on a long-held taboo in international politics: hands off the space stuff.

Countries have been poking at space conflict for decades. But openly blowing up a satellite in an apparent test of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons risks opening a can of worms nobody wants to sample. If everyone starts blowing up satellites, there will be more space debris, and it will send society back to the Stone Age, a.k.a., the 1950s, a world before GPS, weather satellites, or reliable internet.