US And China Have Two-Way Hotline To Avoid ‘Space War’

US And China Have Two-Way Hotline To Avoid ‘Space War’ - The United States has opened a hotline with China to avoid the so-called “space war,” several outlets reported Monday.

The main aim of the two-way open hotline is to keep communication between the Chinese and American military and space agencies intact - allowing both nations to easily share information about space-related activities.

Though it may seem like science fiction, space war is already plausible. The United States and China already operate low-orbit satellites, both disclosed and undisclosed, and accidents like unwitting collisions could spark tension between the two countries. 

The space hotline with China will serve as the “diplomatic safety valve” as fears of orbital arms race grow says the Financial Times, the outlet that first reported the communication window.

The hotline is similar to the ‘red telephone’ set up between the United States and Russia in the middle of the Cold War.

And speaking of Russia, the United States also has a space hotline with the Kremlin.

China is already testing weapons designed to “knock out” almost all American high-tech military capabilities by targeting the country’s orbital networks that are linked to these facilities.

In response, both Russia and the United States have been funding projects to boost their own platforms.

A New Space Race?

In the movie The Martian, NASA launched a booster to send supplies to Mark Watney, an American astronaut stranded in Mars.

After the probe containing the supplies exploded (shortly after launch) - the fictional administrator of the CNSA, or the China National Space Agency, debated with other CNSA officials on whether to give their top-secret booster to NASA. This booster is capable of reaching the Red Planet. But giving this booster to fictional NASA could jeopardize CNSA’s own missions.

In the end, CNSA did help NASA, but the U.S. space agency didn’t use the Chinese booster.

Meanwhile in the real world.. It looks like China and the United States are in a new space race, but war-related.

The United States assistant secretary of state for arms control Frank Rose has told the FT that China has been developing “a full spectrum of anti-satellite capabilities” and they’ve done numerous tests already.

Rose also told the publication that China views space as an asymmetric vulnerability of the United States, and if it can deny America and allied nations access to the “space systems,” China feels it can gain military advantage here on Earth’s ground.

In addition, the report says Russia is also developing ASAT or anti-satellite weapon.

In the middle of the new space tension, Rose said they’ve done a lot of work with China to create the safety mechanism.

“Hopefully, it would get to the right people in China at the right time,” he adds. Source: StGist

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