A Webinar by Brian Weeden on China's Anti-satellite Testing in Space

Friday, April 25, 2014

On Thursday, April 24, SWF Technical Advisor Brian Weeden gave a webinar summarizing his recent report on anti-satellite testing in space as part of the Global Security Technical Webinar Series organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The webinar focused on Brian's recently-published analysis of China's anti-satellite testing in space, and specifically a launch from Xichang Satellite Launch Center back in May 2013 that has been rumored to be part of an anti-satellite test. Brian explained what led him to investigate this particular launch, the major questions he tried to answer, and the evidence supporting his conclusion that it was likely the test of the rocket component of a new direct ascent ASAT weapons system derived from a road-mobile ballistic missile. The system appears to be designed to place a kinetic kill vehicle on a trajectory to deep space that could reach medium earth orbit (MEO), highly elliptical orbit (HEO), and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO).

A recording of the webinar including the slides presented can be found here.