Has space warfare arrived?
'What you're seeing is the normalisation of attacking satellites within war plans. It's becoming a more mainstream aspect of military operations.'
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🛰️ Anti-satellite technologies (ASATs) are becoming the new military ‘must-have’ for spacefaring nations. Bleddyn Bowen, associate professor in Astropolitics at Durham University, says ‘counterspace’ – ie, attacking satellites – is becoming a more mainstream aspect of military operations. Space.com reports:
‘Are we already witnessing ASAT techniques in regular use?
“They are happening right now with Ukraine,” Bowen noted, pointing to commercial satellite providers, like the SpaceX Starlink system, that have experienced jamming and cyber attacks on their in-orbit hardware. Similarly, GPS signal interference is front and center, traced back to Russia.
“What you’re seeing is the normalization of attacking satellites within war plans. It’s becoming a more mainstream aspect of military operations,” said Bowen. …
The past is prologue for space, suggests Bruce McClintock, lead of the RAND Space Enterprise Initiative and a senior policy researcher for the organization, and a professor at the RAND School of Public Policy.
“In the early space-era, the Soviet Union and the U.S. extensively tested a variety of different technologies for ASAT weapons, up to and including nuclear detonation tests in orbit,” McClintock told Space.com.
While agreements were inked to stop such tests, the Russians are reportedly revisiting the concept and have started developing a system. “That is incredibly concerning,” said McClintock.
“There are enough indicators from enough nations that this is not just posturing,” advised McClintock. “A lot of people are talking about Russia doing this. It’s an indiscriminate weapon. It can’t just target certain satellites. It would have short to long-term effects for everybody,” he said.’
📈 In Satellite Evolution, Jean-François Morizur of Cailabs (recently featured in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025), argues that a new industrial revolution is taking place – in space:
‘Over the last decade, the space economy has been heading towards commoditization. That word will make some people feel uneasy: we think of commodities as bland, low-margin goods. But in truth, commoditization is the sign of a sector growing more mature. It means that the essentials – all of the things we depend on – are becoming reliable, affordable, and available at scale. …
Commoditization lowers barriers to entry. It means more people, companies, and governments accessing space-based goods and services. It means more predictable revenue streams, less time from concept to deployment. It means new business models. That amounts in practical terms to easier access to satellite data, more resilient comms, and richer data. Scientists who not long ago could only dream of space-based instruments may soon be able to launch them by taking advantage of the same commoditized launch and manufacturing systems that underpin commercial constellations.’
🐜 FibreCoat’s Robert Brüll argues in Unmanned Airspace that Europe doesn’t need a ‘drone wall’ but a ‘drone dome’, built with the same approach to design and innovation that have allowed Ukraine to punch above its weight against Russia:
‘A truly resilient Europe will not just have a state-of-the-art drone fleet of its own – a system of drones that can work together to make a defensive screen. It will have something more like a dome, made up of drones flying in patrols, linked by sensors, able to detect, track, and intercept threats. The reason it has to be a dome is because a ‘wall’ would only work against direct drone attacks, and that’s not the reality of drone warfare in 2025.
Drones can pop up anywhere, at any time, hidden on trucks or underwater, or even being dropped from space. The goal of building a ‘drone wall’ really betrays a 20th century understanding of warfare that’s no longer applicable to our situation. What we need is a shield over Europe, protecting critical infrastructure in the first instance, and then expanding. It can’t be designed according to yesterday’s principles of defence innovation and procurement, or it will have no chance against tomorrow’s drones.
Start-ups and engineers must be empowered to lead in drone innovation and build this drone dome quickly. What we don’t want is a Maginot line in the sky: costly, able to give some peace of mind, impressive in theory – but useless in practice when the real test comes.’
↔️ In SpaceNews, Bogdan Gogulan, MD of growth-stage space private equity firm NewSpace Capital, argues that commercial space companies should be wary before focusing squarely on defence. ‘Dual-use’, he claims, is the sweet spot:
‘There are many more customers — and there’s much more money — in the commercial sector. So the key for space companies is to manage the pivot, which means resisting the temptation to turn their back on commercial markets. The companies that do that will benefit enormously, because that drip-drip-drip of defense funding can bring longer-term upside to the companies. Commercial is foundational; government business is the cherry on top. Another way to say this is that the sweet spot is dual-use. Companies whose innovations have both civil and defense applications are in the best possible position to enjoy the benefits that lie in both markets. Those benefits include diverse revenue streams, greater resilience to market volatility and the ability to shift emphasis with the ebb and flow of market demand.
Is anyone doing this well? The short answer is: yes. Of course, Starlink and SpaceX are the outstanding examples. But there are lesser known companies making a huge impact, too. Consider the enormous success of ICEYE, owner of the world’s largest constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites. The team has unfussily integrated its solutions across multiple sectors to the benefit of all. Their satellites are now used for maritime activity monitoring, flood detection and response and support in conflict zones like Ukraine.’
🤝🏻 Airbus, Thales and Leonardo are close to a deal on the creation of a European champion capable of competing in a market destabilised by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, reports Peggy Hollinger and Sylvia Pfeifer of the FT:
‘Under the plan, Franco-German Airbus will own 35 per cent, with the other two companies holding 32.5 per cent each, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. As part of the deal, Airbus is expected to receive a payment from its new venture partners to compensate for limiting its stake to 35 per cent, despite contributing roughly half the combined turnover.
The new group will span nearly 30 sites across Europe employing more than 25,000 people, with combined revenues of about €6.5bn a year.
The companies are expected to confirm that no jobs will initially be lost or sites closed, as reported by the Financial Times in June. But they will highlight the potential for improved efficiency and cost savings from bringing together businesses that manufacture satellites as well as space exploration systems and components, and that offer satellite services. Insiders said, over time, some rationalisation in sites and jobs would be inevitable.’
🔥 Some space debris has been found on fire near an Australian mining town, reports the Guardian:
‘Burning space debris that crashed to Earth in outback Australia is likely part of a Chinese rocket that launched in September, according to leading space archaeologist Alice Gorman.
Authorities are investigating the hunk of metal and carbon fibre after miners spotted it near Newman, Western Australia on Saturday afternoon.
“It seems to be the fourth stage of a Jielong rocket,” Gorman, a Flinders University associate professor and author of Dr Space Junk vs the Universe, said.
“There was one launched in late September. If it is the one from the 25th, that means it’s been orbiting the Earth for a bit and then came out of the blue.’
☀️ A U.S. company is proposing to ‘sell sunlight’ by using thousands of mirrors in space to beam down reflected sunlight on specific locations. Not everyone is thrilled, reports CBC:
‘It’s a plan that’s causing alarm among astronomers who are already concerned about the loss of the night sky due to satellite constellations — hundreds to thousands of satellites belonging to one company, most often providing internet services — and overall light pollution.
But the California startup says their plan could help solve energy issues as well as provide lighting for situations like disaster rescue plans and more.
Astronomers aren’t buying it.
Aaron Boley, an astronomer and associate professor at the University of British Columbia, said there are “basic misunderstandings or willful misrepresentations” on the company’s website.
“They were talking about reducing light pollution by having this giant light from space. And it really seems like they’re trying to suggest that because it’s natural sunlight, it’s not like pollution.”’
🌘 ESA has released a video of astronaut Matthias Maurer walking across the dusty terrain of LUNA, a replica of the Moon’s surface outside Cologne: