A nuclear detonation in orbit could disable satellites through radiation and electromagnetic effects, leaving U.S. and allied forces with intact military strength but impaired coordination, a scenario now the subject of U.S. Space Command wargames involving allies and commercial operators.

Historical tests such as the 1962 Starfish detonation show how high-altitude explosions can destroy satellites via artificial radiation belts, and current assessments find no tested U.S. plan for detecting, managing, or recovering from such an event.

The article proposes developing and rigorously testing AI systems to help operators prioritize recovery, flag information uncertainty, and restore limited services within pre-approved limits, while ensuring human authority over critical decisions and resilience of the recovery tools themselves.

Washington has wargamed a Russian nuclear strike in space, and a new study finds no tested plan for recovering from one. Artificial intelligence could help surviving systems restore dependable service, provided it is built, tested and bounded before the crisis.

If a nuclear weapon detonates in space, some of the most consequential damage could appear as missing information. Satellite links could disappear. Commanders could struggle to determine which reports remain dependable. An adversary could seek precisely that confusion: a period when the United States and its allies still have military strength but cannot coordinate it effectively.

That scenario has moved from speculation into military planning. In March, U.S. Space Command concluded a classified tabletop wargame built around the hypothetical use of Russia’s alleged nuclear anti-satellite weapon, with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and more than 60 companies taking part. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the command’s head, said that “reporting about Russia’s plans to launch such a weapon” had “forced us to prepare.”

Preparation remains thin. In September, Defense News reported on an American Foreign Policy Council study, built on wargame workshops with former officials and commercial satellite operators, which concluded that Washington has no tested plan for detecting, managing or recovering from an adversary’s nuclear weapon in orbit. Diplomacy has not closed the gap either. In April 2024, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have affirmed the Outer Space Treaty obligation “not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying........

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