The explosion of just one nuclear weapon in space could destroy or permanently damage “a significant proportion of satellites” that are in orbit around the Earth, the UK’s ambassador to the UN has said.

Dame Barbara Woodward, who was speaking at the UN General Assembly debate on the Outer Space Treaty, said: “The resultant radiation and debris would render many orbits unusable for a very long time.

“There would be highly disruptive and possibly life-threatening consequences for those essential applications, maps, weather [and] risk-monitoring, which would affect all states, not least developing nations.”

Woodward’s comments follow a vote from the UN Security Council in April that rejected a draft resolution introduced by Japan and the US that aimed to prevent the development and deployment of off-world nuclear weapons. While 13 of the 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, China chose to abstain while Russia voted against, causing the motion to fail.

Following Russia’s decision,...