While the Russia/Ukraine conflict continues Russia is increasingly bothered by Western “interference”. Russia has indicated that they are willing to attack space infrastructure that while civilian/commercial owned does have military uses and is being used to aid Ukraine in the war. The SpaceX Starlink has played a critical role for Ukraine during the conflict aggravating Russia. Maxar is another critical player that has been supplying Ukraine with satellite imagery of the conflict regions.

There are two main methods that Russia could attack the space infrastructure. The first is kinetic methods that include Direct Ascent ASATs, anti ballistic missiles as well as co-orbital weapons. The second attack method is a cyber attack. A cyber attack is more likely as it can be denied by Russia more easily. Despite Russian threats, openly attacking the West would be a very dangerous act that would likely draw the Western nations into the conflict in a much more direct manner than they have been to date.

With cyber attacks on space assets being the most likely form of retaliation from Russia the importance of cybersecurity becomes is very apparent.

Georgiou, A. (2022, 10 31). Russia Threatened U.S. Satellites—Here Are the Two Main Attack Options. Retrieved from NEWSWEEK: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-threatened-us-satellites-two-main-attack-options-1755737