Satellites are integral to our life and civilisation. Without them, there would be no communication network or Global Positioning System (GPS). You won’t be able to draw money from the ATM, operate your mobile or drive in unknown territory. If a country develops the capability to destroy another country’s satellites, it can bring the latter’s economy and life to a grinding halt without even firing a single shot at it.

One doesn’t even need to destroy all the satellites because satellites work in networks ~ a typical GPS has 24 satellites distributed evenly around earth to establish permanent coverage. Destroy one and the functionality of the entire system is severely affected. LEO is a potential space-choke point because being nearer to the earth, a satellite placed in LEO can offer higher resolution, and every country will target LEO to place military satellites that can offer resolution up to only six inches. Just like on the Earth, space also can become an arena for intense competition. Five points known as the Lagrange’s Points and denoted by L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5 surround the Earth where the gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth cancel each other out, giving stability to a spacecraft placed therein while requiring minimal energy to keep it there. L1 is 1.5 million km away from the Earth where India recently placed its spacecraft Aditya-L1. L2, where the giant James Webb Space Telescope was positioned last year, is directly behind the Earth in the line joining the Sun and the Earth. This is also where China has placed a satellite recently, allowing it to view the dark side of the moon where it is also contemplating to establish a military base. Others have not been used as yet, but all these points will become objects of intense competition for the strategic advantages they confer ~ they can act like car parks in space because of the stability of position that they offer at the minimal expense of fuel. In previous centuries, as Alfred Mahan has shown, dominance on Earth was decided by controlling the sea routes.

Air power was added in the last century and in this century, it would likely be space power, for which the ability to place military assets in space ~ especially in the LEO ~will become the determining factor. LEO is also the area where any spacecraft travelling to the Moon and beyond can be refuelled and resupplied, and refuelling will be necessary if distant planets like Mars or asteroids are to be explored........

© The Statesman