FROM satellites turned into missiles and worldwide blackouts sparking carnage on the streets, all-out war in space is becoming less of a distant sci-fi dream.
For centuries, wars have been fought on the – but sabre-rattling intergalactic attack plans are now unnerving the world’s leaders.
Russian spacecraft have been trailing European satellites, including Germany’s Intelsat, picturedCredit: Getty
Operation Dominic Starfish Prime saw a nuclear bomb launched into spaceCredit: Alamy
Top analysts say Britain is unprepared for a devastating impact. So what would happen if the next world war plays out among the stars?
Although a space war would play out some 1,242 miles above ground, it could have devastating effects on humans on .
Streets could be left deserted across major cities as electricity is wiped out and the planet is brought to a screeching standstill.
Supermarket shelves would be emptied as panicked citizens rush to stock up for the .
And entire societies would be left without any military communications due to the huge blackout – leaving capital cities exposed to nuclear missile attacks.
Although outdated peace treaties ban the military exploitation of space, evidence suggests no one is playing by the rules.
As the brutal war drags on in , tensions simmer between and Taiwan, and the US eyes up South America, analysts warned that too many governments are turning a blind eye to the “final frontier” – a war played out in space.
In Europe, Russian spacecraft have been , security officials told the Financial Times.
And is said to be stealing sensitive information shared between Western satellites – with the power to send them crashing down to Earth.
have skyrocketed since Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last year, British Space Command boss Major General Paul Tedman warned that had been trying to jam the UK’s military satellites on a weekly basis.
Putin has also been eavesdropping on satellites used by European armies, ‘s defence minister said last September.
As it stands, the US, China and Russia each have more than a hundred military satellites in orbit. By contrast, Britain has just six – but owns over 600 for commercial use.
Issuing a stark warning, former UK intelligence officer Philip Ingram said: “Authorities in the UK are completely ill-prepared to deal with attacks on satellites.”
And space security expert Dr Mark Hilborne told The Sun that Britain has “only really started to think about space from a sort of strategic and policy level in the last few years”.
The size of Moscow and ‘s satellite fleet combined has ballooned by 70 per cent over the last decade.
Ingram said: “Domination of space is critical from a military perspective at the moment, but it carries a lot of risks.”
Ex-British Defence Attaché John Foreman CBE told us: “Space is already a warfighting domain per UK doctrine – so we need to protect it.”
Dr Hilborne called the high-altitude cyber battles already playing out in space “a constant cat and mouse game”.
These small-scale tricks – including ploys such as spoofing – are designed to cause chaos without starting a war or firing a shot.
By quietly interfering with satellites, rather than blowing them up, countries can disrupt enemies, mislead their systems and slip away without punishment.
Western officials have also warned that some foreign states are exploring the use of nuclear-type space weapons to disrupt or disable satellite networks, including Starlink constellations.
Foreign threats could target Starlink systemsCredit: AP
Satellites are key parts of modern-day societiesCredit: Getty
The nervous system
Satellites are the Achilles heel of most societies, Ingram says, describing how space is “critical and is growing more and more important by the day”.
From ordinary people making calls and watching TV to governments responding to natural disasters and military developments, satellites are crucial in our everyday life.
Acting as the nervous system of society, leaving the door open to potential foreign threats could prove devastating in the event of large-scale sabotage on them.
He said: “For everyday life today, space is essential. That’s why the military domination of space or the military use of space is something that is making people anxious.”
Exposing Putin’s plans, international security expert Foreman said: “Russia recognises the significant US advantage in space – sensors, comms, GPS – and has developed weapons to try and neutralise that advantage to level the playing field.
“That’s why they demonstrated a ground-launched anti-satellite capability before the invasion [of Ukraine] and have developed ground-based lasers to blind US and allied spy satellites.”
has more than double the number of military satellites that Moscow does – but Putin is no doubt desperate to get to the same level.
Malicious space activities are part of Putin’s hybrid warfare campaignCredit: Reuters
Starlink constellations could be crippledCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Plausible deniability
Global powers including Western allies are already carrying out “malicious activities” above our skies, Dr Hilborne noted.
The space-watcher said: “There’s a lot of what’s considered to be sub-threshold activity – activity that’s short of war.
“Things such as jamming, lazing – using lasers to temporarily blind sensors – cyber attacks of various kinds, and what we call spoofing.”
A common manipulation technique, spoofing in space involves sending false messages to enemies through deliberately misleading satellite signals.
Highlighting how governments effectively maximise damage through these grey-zone strategies, Ingram said: “Nation states don’t come in with a big flag and a uniform on saying this is me attacking you, they will use any means to try and hide what it is.”
But he also noted how Putin was using space to help his war in Ukraine, saying: “Russia is sending false messages out to different militaries at the moment, the simplest way is GPS spoofing.”
Nuclear bombs can release huge electromagnetic pulses which can wipe out electronic systemsCredit: Getty
World powers are vying to get ahead in the new age space raceCredit: AP
‘Nukes’ in space
Dr Hilborne noted that countries were looking to “alternative systems” such as Starlink as they increasingly recognise their over-reliance on satellites.
The US, China, and have the ability to take down traditional satellites with missiles, he explained.
But some foreign states are reportedly mulling launching nuke-style weapons into space in a bid to counter Starlink constellations.
Since ‘s are organised in large and closely-gathered formations, eliminating just one would have little impact on the whole system.
Russia and China are rumoured to be developing weapons which have the capability to take out a wide cluster of the small satellites in one go, Dr Hilborne said.
“[It] would produce something like an electronic magnetic pulse that would then knock out the electronics of quite a wide number of satellites – sort of area denial,” he said.
Referencing an outer space nuclear test from 1962 named Operation Starfish Prime, Dr Hilborne explained how the launch released a massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which wiped out electricity on Earth in Hawaii and on satellites.
Foreign powers may be able to use something similar to a nuclear blast to send a huge electromagnetic pulse which could cripple Starlink constellations.
“If Russia has a kind of area denial weapon that could take out large parts of a constellation, it might be something like an electromagnetic pulse weapon.”
Warning of Beijing, he said: “There’s a rumour that China had developed sort of small robotic satellites that could move around and disable Starlink satellites en masse.”
Last December, reports emerged that Russia was developing an anti-Starlink weapon which would target thousands of the small satellites with destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel.
The “zone-effect” weapon would seek to flood Starlink orbits with hundreds of thousands of high-density pellets – potentially disabling multiple satellites in one go but also risking catastrophic collateral damage.
Ingram emphasised that kinetic weapons in space could risk debris clouds which are extremely difficult to predict and could end up damaging your own systems.
Dr Hilborne said that despite the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 forbidding weapons of mass destruction in space, anyone could “choose to violate it”.
“It’s not impossible,” the analyst said.
The UK is ‘ill-prepared’ to deal with space threats, experts sayCredit: Getty
Countries could fight for domination over the moonCredit: Reuters
Moon race
The moon hosts a huge deposit of rare earths, and many have speculated that private firms and governments could end up battling to mine it.
Asked about the prospect of this, Dr Hilborne said that countries were more likely to chase things like helium-3 rather than rare earths.
He also outlined some of the advantages controlling the moon could have.
Dr Hilborne said: “You could use the moon as a kind of staging base, it’d be much cheaper to launch from the moon because the gravity’s less and that kind of thing.
“Different asteroids and other celestial bodies, there will be rare earth metals, and that will be something that companies and countries seek to mine, and that will happen.”
He warned that it was a real possibility: “Technologically, absolutely, that could happen.
“It will be starting to happen probably sooner than we realise.”
Ingram also played down the idea of rare earth mining on the moon, adding: “We’ve got more than enough rare earth resources on planet Earth.”
He said: “It’s going to be an awful lot more economically viable to get those [rare earths] out of the ground on planet Earth before you start mining the moon or mining asteroids.”
“It sounds great in science fiction… I think we’re centuries off that sort of activity happening.”
Conclusion
The coming years will be pivotal in deciding who will rule space.
As countries fight to claim different parts of Earth, many will start to realise the advantages of looking up.
“The tensions on Earth will decide the tensions in space,” Dr Hilborne said.
“What we call astropolitics and astro-tensions, they are entirely derivative of what happens on Earth.”
Nuke-style weapons could be launched into spaceCredit: Getty
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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