“The Chinese ASAT test has certainly increased the collision risk to all of the roughly 700 active spacecraft with (orbital low ends) below approximately 4,000 kms,” the command said in reply to queries from Reuters.

Such “low-Earth” orbits are home to satellites used for communications, scientific and environmental monitoring and weather predicting, as well as the International Space Station.

The biggest U.S. satellite manufacturers are Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co. and Northrup Grumman Corp.

The test “made clear that space is not a sanctuary,” Ronald Sega, undersecretary of the Air Force, told reporters at a space-industry forum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

On Jan. 11, China shattered one of its aging weather satellites with a ground-based missile — the first such test since the United States and the Soviet Union halted 20 years ago, concerned about satellite threatening debris.

The Air Force is planning to spend more than $400 million over the next five years to promote “operationally responsive space,” including small satellites that could be launched quickly to replace any downed by a foe.

Raytheon Co., a Waltham, Massachusetts, defense contractor, said at the industry symposium it would step up its efforts to meet the emerging “launch on demand” market.

“Raytheon sees this area of the space business growing quickly as asymmetric threats make the need for up-to-date, detailed information critical to the safety and success of our warfighters,” said Brian Arnold, a retired Air Force general who runs many of the company’s advanced space programs.

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