Why did the US become the first country to ban anti-satellite missile testing?

US Vice President Kamala Harris on the evening of April 18 (local time) announced that President Joe Biden's administration was imposing a ban on anti-satellite missile tests with the goal of making it an "international standard of conduct". responsible in space'.

The US, China, India and Russia have all carried out such tests, creating debris in space, posing a danger to astronauts, satellites, etc., ABC News reported. . The United States was the first country in the world to impose a ban on anti-satellite missile tests.

Space junk created by a 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test collided with a Russian satellite on January 22, 2013.

"Simply put, these tests are very dangerous and we are not going to conduct them," Vice President Harris said at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. She said the US hopes other countries will follow suit.

The US has identified and tracked more than 1,600 pieces of debris that Russia created when it used a rocket to destroy a satellite in November 2021, and more than 2,800 pieces of debris that China created when conducting their test this year. 2007, Ms. Harris said. The test of Russia's anti-satellite rocket has created a lot of debris that threatens the International Space Station (ISS), the US press reports.

Ms Harris said: 'Debris poses a risk to the safety of our astronauts, satellites and our growing commercial presence. In space, basketball-sized debris, traveling at thousands of miles per hour, would destroy satellites. Even debris as small as a grain of sand can cause serious damage."

These weapons are intended to destroy America's ability to use space capabilities by destroying our satellites, which are vital to national security. To be sure, these experiments are reckless and irresponsible. These tests also jeopardize what we do in space.

Harris' speech comes months after a Russian anti-satellite test in November 2021 created a debris cloud so large that the ISS had to be displaced, Space reported. And it was not the first such incident; In 2013, a Russian satellite was hit by debris created six years earlier during a Chinese anti-satellite test.