President Joe Biden's administration has announced it is barring anti-satellite missile testing by the US, a move that White House officials say is meant to underscore its hopes of establishing new norms for military action in space.
The US has sharply criticised Russia and China for conducting anti-satellite missile tests, although it used an interceptor missile fired from a US Navy warship more than 14 years ago to destroy a malfunctioning spy satellite.
The issue is one that has taken on greater urgency after Russia in November launched a missile to destroy a defunct Soviet-era satellite.
Vice President Kamala Harris, in a speech on Monday at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the central coast of California to highlight the administration's move, criticised the Russian action as “reckless” and “irresponsible".
The strike created more than 1,500 pieces of space debris that increased risk to US and Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong space station, according to US Space Command.
“Simply put, these tests are dangerous,” Ms Harris said. “And we will not conduct them.”
The Russian test occurred as it was massing troops before its latest invasion of Ukraine. The more than seven-week-old war has left thousands dead and prompted the US and its allies to hit Russia with massive economic sanctions.
Ms Harris stressed that the debris created by the missile test threatens not only astronauts and US military interests but also could affect commercial satellites that the world relies on for weather forecasts, GPS systems that help drivers navigate streets, television broadcasts and critical infrastructure.
“A piece of space debris the size of a basketball, which travels at thousands of miles per hour, would destroy a satellite. Even a piece of debris as small as a grain of sand could cause serious damage,” Ms Harris said.
The announcement of the anti-satellite missile testing ban comes months after Ms Harris announced that White House National Security Council officials would work with officials at the Pentagon, State Department, and other US national security agencies to develop proposals for national security space norms.
The US is the first country to announce such a ban. Ms Harris said she hoped other nations would quickly follow.
The kind of direct-ascent weapon that the Biden administration is committing not to fire relies on interceptor missiles that travel from the Earth’s surface to strike a satellite target hundreds of miles into space.
Since the 1960s, the US, China, India and Russia have conducted more than a dozen anti-satellite tests in space that have destroyed satellites and created more than 6,300 pieces of orbital debris, according to the Secure World Foundation, a non-governmental group that advocates for sustainable and peaceful uses of outer space.
At least 4,300 pieces of that debris are still in orbit today and pose long-term threats to human space flight, science and national security missions, and the future economic development of space, according to the foundation.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
