Banning destructive anti-satellite tests: necessity and possibility Guest Speaker Dr Adam Bower

Earth orbit is an increasingly “congested, competitive, and contested” domain. Human societies are deeply reliant on satellite-enabled services but accumulating space objects and the development of anti-satellite (ASAT) technologies threaten the future sustainability of space activities. This paper makes the case that a global ban on destructive ASAT testing is both urgently necessary and politically achievable even in the current geopolitical climate. Prohibiting further destructive ASAT tests would remove one significant source of orbital debris and reduce future risks to all spacecraft operators. A focused ban on the testing of kinetic ASAT would not eliminate specific technologies or capabilities and is effectively verifiable with existing space surveillance systems. While limited in scope, a testing ban is a pragmatic first step that would generate much needed trust among space powers and could therefore set the conditions for widening restrictions in the future, to prohibit the deliberate destruction of others' satellites.