Of the greater than 14,000 lively satellites in low-Earth orbit at this time, roughly two-thirds belong to Elon Musk’s Starlink. Governments worldwide—together with the US—rely on these satellites for distant communications, navy operations, and web entry. It seems Russia could also be growing a new technique to take them down.
NATO intelligence findings reviewed by the Related Press counsel Russia is growing a weapon that might goal Starlinks with harmful orbiting clouds of shrapnel. The “zone-effect” weapon would flood their orbits with a whole bunch of 1000’s of high-density pellets to disable a number of satellites without delay, the AP stories.
Gizmodo couldn’t independently confirm the findings however reached out to the U.S. Area Power (USSF), Russia’s presidential press workplace, and SpaceX for remark. None responded by the point of publication.
The suggestion that Russia could also be investing in new methods to focus on Starlinks doesn’t come as a shock. The satellites have performed a essential position in Ukraine’s protection towards President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. What does shock some specialists is the concept Russia would pursue an assault technique that would endanger its personal satellites and people of its allies.
Russia’s potential motive
Simply days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Starlink satellites grew to become lively over Ukraine. The transfer adopted a request from Ukrainian management to SpaceX to exchange web providers that had already been destroyed by Russian forces.
Since then, Starlinks have confirmed important to Ukraine’s survival, upholding essential civilian infrastructure, battlefield communications, and defensive navy operations resembling drone strikes, surveillance, and artillery coordination.
Russian officers have warned that they might goal industrial satellites supporting Ukraine’s navy. The flexibility to disrupt Ukraine’s Starlink entry will surely improve Russia’s benefit, however deploying any such weapon might come at a big value to the invading nation.
Dangerous unintended penalties
Flooding Starlink orbits with shrapnel might disable a number of satellites without delay, however it could additionally threat collateral harm to different spacecraft. Such an assault might get “uncontrolled in a rush,” Brigadier Basic Christopher Horner, the commander of the Canadian navy’s Area Division, informed the AP.
“You blow up a field filled with BBs,” he mentioned. Doing that might “blanket a whole orbital regime and take out each Starlink satellite tv for pc and each different satellite tv for pc that’s in an analogous regime. And I feel that’s the half that’s extremely troubling.”
The present variety of Russian satellites in orbit is unclear, however Russia maintains an lively presence with navy, industrial, and experimental satellites in low-Earth orbit and geostationary-Earth orbit, based on USSF. China, a key Russia ally, had almost 1,200 satellites in orbit as of July 2025, USSF stories.
Deploying a zone-effect weapon might, in principle, harm these belongings. China’s Tiangong Area Station and the Worldwide Area Station—of which Russia is a key companion—would even be in peril of particles impacts from such assaults.
“I’d be very stunned, frankly, if [Russia] had been to do one thing like that,” Victoria Samson, a space-security specialist on the Safe World Basis who leads the group’s annual research of anti-satellite techniques, informed the AP.
Nonetheless, it’s not outdoors the realm of risk, Horner mentioned. “If the reporting on the nuclear weapons system is correct and that they’re prepared to develop that and prepared to go to that finish, effectively it wouldn’t strike me as surprising that one thing simply in need of that, however equally damaging, is inside their wheelhouse of growth,” he informed the AP.
What’s extra, this technique begins to make sense when one considers the truth that Russia is falling woefully behind the U.S. throughout a number of domains of house expertise. Starlink alone dwarfs the mixed inhabitants of each Russia’s and China’s orbital spacecraft. By knocking out industrial satellites, Russia might try and degree the taking part in discipline, even when it means taking out a few of its personal belongings and doubtlessly shedding entry to low-Earth orbit.
A lot about this potential menace to the Starlink constellation stays unknown, underscoring how quickly warfare is evolving as house itself turns into a battlefield. As nations proceed to push the boundaries of their orbital capabilities, the following battle might play out excessive above Earth’s floor.
