2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test

On 11 January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite missile test. A China weather satellite—the FY-1C polar orbit satellite of the Fengyun series, at an altitude of , with a mass of —was destroyed by a kinetic kill vehicle traveling with a speed of in the opposite direction (see "Head-on engagement"). It was launched with a multistage solid-fuel missile from Xichang Satellite Launch Center or nearby.
"Aviation Week & Space Technology" magazine first reported the test on 17 January 2007. The report was confirmed on 18 January 2007 by a United States National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson. At first the Chinese government did not publicly confirm whether or not the test had occurred; but on 23 January 2007, the Chinese Foreign Ministry officially confirmed that a test had been conducted. China claims it formally notified the U.S., Japan and other countries about the test in advance.
It was the first known successful satellite intercept test since 1985, when the United States conducted an anti-satellite missile test using an ASM-135 ASAT to destroy the P78-1 satellite.
"The New York Times", "The Washington Times" and "Jane's Intelligence Review" reported that this came on the back of at least two previous direct ascent tests that intentionally did not result in an intercept, on 7 July 2005 and 6 February 2006.
A classified U.S. State Department cable revealed by WikiLeaks indicates that the same system was tested against a ballistic target in January 2010 in what the Chinese government publicly described as a test of "ground-based midcourse missile interception technology". That description also closely matches the Chinese government's description of another test in January 2013, which has led some analysts to conclude that it was yet another test of the same ASAT system, again against a ballistic target and not a satellite.
Background.
In January 2001, a U.S. congressionally mandated space commission headed by Donald Rumsfeld recommended that "the U.S. government should vigorously pursue the capabilities called for in the National Space Policy to ensure that the president will have the option to deploy weapons in space to deter threats to, and, if necessary, defend against attacks on U.S. interests." Moreover, the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 had allowed the United States to pursue missile defenses, including those that were space-based.
In response to the actions by the U.S. towards space weaponization, the Chinese started a space defense program that included anti-satellite defense.
Weaponry.
The Chinese anti-satellite system has been named by the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, in a Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing as the SC-19.
The SC-19 has been described as being based on a modified DF-21 ballistic missile with a Kinetic Kill Vehicle mounted. The ASAT kill vehicle relies on an imaging infrared seeker and also has been described as a modified HQ-19 with a KT-1 rocket booster. The program is said to have been at least partially funded by China's 863 Program (specifically, the 863-409 focus area).
The closing velocity of the intercept was approximately 8 kilometers per second (17,900 mph), comparable to the American National Missile Defense system.
Aftermath.
Political reactions.
Several nations responded negatively to the test and highlighted the serious consequences of engaging in the militarisation of space. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao stated, "There's no need to feel threatened about this" and argued that "China will not participate in any kind of arms race in outer space." China had publicly been advocating to ban space weapons, which had been rejected by the United States under George W. Bush.
The United States had not tested an anti-satellite weapon since 1985. In February 2008 the US launched its own strike to destroy a non-functioning US satellite, which demonstrated the capability to strike in space, though at a much lower altitude than the Chinese test. The US claimed that the strike was not a military test but a necessary mission to remove the threat posed by the decaying orbit of a faulty spy satellite with a full tank of hydrazine fuel.
Space debris tracking.
Anti-satellite missile tests, especially ones involving kinetic kill vehicles as in this case, contribute to the formation of orbital space debris which can remain in orbit for many years and could interfere with future space activity (Kessler syndrome). This event was the second largest creation of space debris in history after Project West Ford, with more than 2,000 pieces of trackable size (golf ball size and larger) officially catalogued in the immediate aftermath, and an estimated 150,000 debris particles. , a total of 3,438 pieces of debris had been detected, with 571 decayed and 2,867 still in orbit nine years after the incident.
More than half of the tracked debris orbits the Earth with a mean altitude above , so they would likely remain in orbit for decades or centuries. Based on 2009 and 2013 calculations of solar flux, the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office estimated that around 30% of the larger-than- debris would still be in orbit in 2035.
In April 2011, debris from the Chinese test passed away from the International Space Station.
As of April 2019, 3000 of the 10,000 pieces of space debris routinely tracked by the US Military as a threat to the International Space Station were known to have originated from the 2007 satellite shoot down.
Response.
Unofficial or indirectly related responses.
Desmond Ball of the Australian National University while commenting on China's anti-satellite (ASAT) test of January 2007 said: “China's ASAT test of 11 January involved a fairly primitive system, limited to high-inclination LEO satellites. It is the sort of capability available to any country with a store of MRBMs/IRBMs or satellite launch vehicles, and a long-range radar system, such as Japan, India, Iran and even North Korea. However, its LEO coverage does include some extremely valuable satellites, including imaging and ELINT satellites, and the test is likely to generate reactions in several countries.”
Related treaties.
The Outer Space Treaty banned weapons of mass destruction in orbit and outer space but does not ban conventional weaponry in orbit. It is ratified by 98 countries, including China, and signed by 27 others.