Aviation Week & Space Technology is reporting on discussions within the U.S. intelligence community over a satellite ‘breakup’ in space that may have been caused by a Chinese anti-satellite weapons test. The test, if it is confirmed, would be a very provocative act on the part of the Chinese government and a repudiation of the popular consensus about China’s peaceful purpouses in space. Even if the story remains unconfirmed or is denied by the Chinese government, it will likely be enough for pro-control lawmakers to justify the escalation of U.S. space control plans.

Jeffrey Lewis has a good writeup on Arms Control Wonk on the technical details and what this will mean politically — I agree with his assessment that if this is true, it’s a very sad day. I’ll continue to update this post with news articles (tagged under anti-satellite tests among other) and blog entries of note.