ASAT or “Anti-Satellite Test” is a test in which a target-craft in orbit is destroyed using a ballistic missile. Last year, on November 15, the Russian military destroyed its defunct satellite with an ASAT. This test created dangerous debris in low Earth orbit, endangering astronauts on the International Space Station.
The U.S. commitment to abolish ASAT has been affirmed by VP Harris on 4/19/22 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The United States is the first nation to make such a declaration, notes Michael Scheets of CNBC.
Russia, China and India continue to conduct ASAT. The last time the U.S. destroyed a satellite in an ASAT was in 2008 when the U.S. Navy hit and destroyed the National Reconnaissance Office satellite USA-193 with a modified SM-3 missile.
During President Trump’s administration, the U.S. strove to promote the Artemis Accords, an international agreement on space cooperation drafted by NASA and the State Department, signed by 18 countries to-date. The Accords have been continued by President Biden.