Comment Re:More junk. (Score 1) 86
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_missile_test
Debris aside (sorry for the pun), the move by the Chinese was strategically aimed at the US military space program and it basically forestalled the US from any further attempts on the militarisation of space.
Quote:
"In January 2001, a (US) congressionally mandated space commission headed by Donald Rumsfeld recommended that “the U.S. government should vigorously pursue the capabilities called for in the National Space Policy to ensure that the president will have the option to deploy weapons in space to deter threats to, and, if necessary, defend against attacks on U.S. interests."
Moreover, the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 has given the United States a free hand to move forward with missile defenses, and space-based missile defenses
In response to US weaponisation of space, the Chinese started a space defense program, including anti-satellite defense.[11]"
Of course, now there is the X37 program, which the Chinese is countering as well ...