Russia space threat: How nuclear weapons could devastate Earth’s satellite infrastructure

Every day, our modern lives are powered by thousands of Earth-orbiting satellites that enable everything from GPS signals to banking transactions to weather forecasts.

Those mundane, yet critical, functions of modern society could be upended instantly if the satellites were disrupted. According to multiple reports, Russia might now be trying to develop a space-based, nuclear-powered anti-satellite weapon that could do exactly that.

On Wednesday, House Intelligence chairman Mike Turner roiled Washington with his disclosure of a “serious national security threat.” The next day, White House spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the intelligence was “related to an anti-satellite capability that Russia is developing.”

Kirby added that there is no immediate safety risk and that “this is not an active capability that has been deployed,” nor is it a “weapon that can be used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth.”

The Kremlin called the reports a “malicious fabrication” meant to rile bipartisan support for more funds to counter Russia.

While details about Russia’s anti-satellite capability remain limited, here’s what we know about what could happen if such a weapon were to be deployed.

What are the threats? 

The first major concern is Russia developing anti-satellite weapons that could disrupt “everyday communications, sensing and precision navigation, and timing satellites,” says Rebecca Grant, president at IRIS Independent Research, a consultancy focused on defense and aerospace. This could have a major impact on civilian life, wreaking havoc on everything from television broadcasts to shipping and logistics.

Such a capability could also have major military implications. Satellites, such as those that make up SpaceX’s Starlink—a satellite internet constellation—have helped Ukraine to communicate with the world, gather intelligence, detect GPS interference, and coordinate attacks in its war with Russia. A 2023 Space Threat Assessment from the Center for Strategic and International Studies has detailed Russia’s use of electronic warfare and cyberattacks against space systems.

Another concern is that Russia could deploy nuclear weapons to destroy satellites. High-altitude nuclear explosions pose “a pretty significant threat . . . to satellites,” James Acton, co-director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Nuclear Policy Program, told NPR. “Nuclear weapons would be a much more efficient way of trying to destroy them.”

But the use of such a weapon would damage much more than its intended target. Brian Weeden, chief program officer at the Secure World Foundation who studies space operations, told the publication it’s more likely that Russia is developing a space-based nuclear reactor for electronic warfare: devices that could jam signals and disable satellites. These could “disrupt our military satellites that watch for enemy missiles and help our deployed U.S. military forces,” Grant says.

Space race 

Anti-satellite technology is not new. The United States, Russia, China, and India have all conducted anti-satellite weapons tests. In 2021, Russia launched a missile strike against a dead satellite in space that caused 1,500 fragments of orbital debris that threatened safe operations in space, prompting the United States to adopt a voluntary moratorium on such tests.

Any deployment of nuclear weapons in orbit would be a significant and “new escalatory step” by Russia, Mariana Budjeryn, a senior research associate at Harvard Kennedy School’s Project on Managing the Atom, told NBC News.

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