In February 2024 the United States and the United Kingdom take the unusual step of declassifying intelligence indicating that Russia is developing a space-based nuclear ASAT capability — a weapon that, if detonated in orbit, would render large portions of low Earth orbit unusable for years through the immediate kill of unhardened satellites and the longer-term radiation environment.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the placement of weapons of mass destruction in orbit, remains, on paper, in force. The decision to declassify is itself a sovereignty act: by going public, Washington and London force every other operator in low Earth orbit to plan for a contingency the treaty was supposed to make planning unnecessary.