Source: Metro

Small Risk of Space TerrorismAn interview with Petr Topychkanov, Coordinator of the Nonproliferation Program at Carnegie Moscow Center

Another concern is terrorists targeting space installations. How big is the risk of such attacks?

Theoretically terrorists could use missiles stolen from armed forces to target satellites. And they could attempt to send wrong radio signals to satellites to change their activities. During the past several years there have also been a number of incidents of people pointing lasers at airplanes to make pilots’ work harder. This example shows that the technology development can give more options to malefactors. In the near future the new technologies may be available for terrorists who will try to use them against objects in space. 

If they targeted space installations, how much damage could terrorists do?

They could damage the satellites’ communication between each other in space or details of the satellites on the ground. The sabotage in space programs on the ground is most likely in the countries where there is a high risk of infiltration of extremist and terrorist elements into government services.

Is there a bigger risk of terrorists attacking space than subways?

Right now the risk of space terrorism is very small because terrorists don’t have enough resources to carry out such attacks. And remember that terrorists want to terrorize people. If you attack a target on the ground, people see it. If you attack a space satellite and knocked out people’s mobile phone networks, they’d feel it was a disaster. Still, you’d have to prove that you did it. Terrorists don’t just want to create havoc, they want to be famous.