A nuclear detonation in space would not look like a conventional strike on Earth. But its effects could be devastating for modern societies and militaries that rely on satellites for communications, navigation, banking, transport, weather forecasting and military targeting.
“If something similar to Starfish Prime happened today,” Traut said, referring to a 1962 U.S. high-altitude nuclear test, “up to one-third of all satellites in low-Earth orbit” could stop functioning over the following weeks and months.
That, he warned, would worsen the problem of space debris and increase the risk of cascading collisions — the so-called Kessler effect. “It is even conceivable,” he said, “that certain orbital altitudes would no longer be usable for decades.”
The warning comes as Berlin is moving to turn space into a central pillar of its defense policy. Germany’s new space security strategy says the Bundeswehr must be able not only to protect German and allied access to space, but also to restrict an adversary’s ability to use it.
Traut said the threats in space have “massively developed” in recent years, from GPS jamming and lasers to physical attacks on satellites. At the lower end, he said, electromagnetic disruption and laser interference are already a daily reality. “The best example is GPS jamming in the Baltic region,” he said, adding that it affects civilian aviation and maritime traffic.
Germany’s response, he argued, cannot be reserved.