Overview
- Two unnamed NATO intelligence services shared assessments indicating Russia is exploring a system to flood Starlink orbits with hundreds of thousands of millimeter-scale pellets.
- An official familiar with the material said the effort is in active development, though the expected timeframe remains classified and AP could not independently verify the conclusions.
- The pellets are described as too small for current tracking networks, which could complicate attribution if satellites fail or show impact damage.
- Analysts caution the approach could generate widespread debris threatening other spacecraft, including the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong, as well as Russia’s own satellites.
- Starlink’s central role in Ukraine’s communications and targeting is cited as a likely motive, while the Kremlin did not comment and Russia has previously backed UN initiatives against space weapons.