This time last year, United States government officials released details indicating Russia may be developing a space-based nuclear weapon system to target Western satellites. While a flagrant violation of international norms, ambitions of space-based nuclear weapons are not exclusive to Russia: a Congressional report suggests that the People’s Republic of China is also pursuing such capabilities.
The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a nuclear detonation in space can destroy or degrade satellites well beyond the initial blast radius, and would change the world as we know it. For example, the U.S.’s 1962 Starfish Prime nuclear test in space produced radioactive particles that disabled nearly two-thirds of the handful of satellites then in orbit, some instantly and others over the course of months after exposure to consistently-high doses of lingering radiation, which can last years. As a result, strategic radiation-hardened electronics must be able to operate in hostile radiation environments, as well as in the natural radiation environment of space.
A high-altitude EMP attack could trigger major societal devastation. Power grids could fail, halting water, food, communications and transportation systems. GPS loss could cripple financial markets, emergency services and military operations. The government and private sector must work together to harden our space-based infrastructure to protect against such threats.
The U.S. government, through the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, and its National Security Laboratories, conducts research into how to keep satellites and strategic assets resilient in the event of an EMP. These studies are known broadly as nuclear effects testing.
But, since the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that ended underground nuclear testing to mark the end of the Cold War, these efforts have relied almost entirely on simulations, which means the survivability and resilience of America’s constellation of military and commercial satellites is fundamentally at risk. So is the survivability of all Earth-based systems that depend on those satellites, including everything from GPS to weather tracking to global telecommunications to the most sensitive military and intelligence operations.
Currently, the U.S. government and commercial space firms conduct radiation testing shots from the Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos National Laboratories, among other Department of Defense facilities. These government-owned, contractor-operated test sites are confronting skyrocketing demand for physical shots of radiation beyond computer simulations, diverting machine time from the labs’ foundational mission of research and development for our strategic nuclear deterrent. In some cases, they have 18-month lead times. Often, many of these 20-plus-year-old physical testing capabilities are offline due to lengthy machine refurbishment cycles, with some not set to come back online for well over a decade. Increasing government costs and lead times are complicated further by the sometimes-classified nature of these missions. This all means longer development cycles for critical weapons systems and space-based architecture while the U.S. grows increasingly vulnerable to adversarial attacks from EMPs and other strategic systems.
It’s time for a public-private partnership for commercial nuclear effects testing – “radiation as a service.”
To better safeguard critical satellite assets and meet skyrocketing demand for radiation testing, the U.S. nuclear security enterprise should first understand that there are growing private sector radiation testing services available outside the traditional government-owned and government-operated sites. Further, there are companies and investors willing to put forward their own money to build the sites and machines needed rather than relying on government infrastructure funding, which creates arduously long approval cycles. These companies can move fast to build to needed specifications and simply want the government to be an end-user rather than infrastructure financier unlike traditional defense primes. In the private sector, companies are expected to know the customers’ needs and build to those, and if they get it wrong, they fail. If they get it right, they attract customers.
The U.S. nuclear enterprise should also adopt a public-private partnership approach for this testing. In such a model, the private sector would provide radiation “shots as a service” where both government agencies and private companies buy shots on privately owned and operated radiation devices. These shots would allow them to test their devices and use the resulting nuclear diagnostics data to design and build more resilient satellites and space-based assets for massive cost savings to the U.S. taxpayer.
In a public-private partnership model, the U.S. government and private companies would share costs associated with milestone-based technology development for technologies with both government and commercial end-users. The government would evaluate multiple companies and those meeting the customers’ needs with proven technology and “here and now” capabilities would be selected to conduct testing. This would reduce financial and technical risks for both government and industry and allow the United States to stay a step ahead of its adversaries. The private sector can move much faster via startups with proprietary machines that can safely conduct high energy radiation testing at a fraction of the cost.
To enable the U.S. nuclear enterprise, Congress should pass legislation that strongly urges the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to establish a new public-private partnership with qualified U.S.-based commercial partners to augment, improve, and accelerate government radiation effects testing.
Given the explosion of space-based infrastructure, now is the time to tap growing government and commercial market demand with companies that can move more quickly while keeping U.S. national security interests in mind. Not only would such an approach be nimbler and more cost-effective, it would also allow the National Security Laboratories to continue focusing on critical national security research projects.
There’s a clear precedent for such a move: NASA, for example, commercialized launch capabilities a decade ago. And as recent decisions in Moscow and Beijing make clear, there is an urgent need to make a similar shift in America’s nuclear enterprise. It is crucial to safeguard the constellation of satellites that enables both the West’s economic might and its highest-end military capabilities.
It is clear that we need change, and we need it soon. Congress must act and direct the U.S. Government to implement these public-private partnership models to increase safety on Earth while ensuring the continuity of the global economic system and the billions who depend on it.
J.C. Btaiche is founder and CEO of Fuse.
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