WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris has announced that the State will no longer conduct destructive, direct ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile tests in order to reduce space debris and protect low-Earth orbit satellites.

Harris said in a statement late Monday that such initiatives benefit all countries and that other governments should make similar pledges and work together to establish this as a norm.

"It is risky and irresponsible to destroy space objects through direct-ascent ASAT missile testing," she warned at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.  The United States is the first country to make such a statement.

As evidenced by Russia's catastrophic direct ascent ASAT missile test in November 2021, the pledge addresses one of the most significant challenges to space security and sustainability. In 2007, China did a similar test.

"The long-lasting debris caused by these tests now threatens satellites and other space objects that are critical to all nations' security, economic, and scientific interests, and puts humans in space at risk," Harris said.  Overall, these tests endanger the long-term viability of outer space and jeopardise all nations' exploration and usage of space, according to the US Vice President.

Harris directed the National Security Council staff to work with national security agencies to produce suggestions for national security space rules at the Joe Biden-Harris Administration's inaugural National Space Council meeting in December.  "This is particularly significant because an increasing number of states and non-governmental organisations rely on space services and assets that are vulnerable to debris," Harris added.

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