The Threat of Weapons in Space

-- by Nina Tannenwald, Brown University, USA

[This is a modified version of an article that first appeared in Limes, an Italian journal of geopolitics, in September 2004 (there translated into Italian). Although the discussion was aimed initially at students and scholars of foreign affairs and international law, the content of Professor Tannenwald's article will be of interest to all citizens, especially those concerned with the impact of science and technology on society. -Editor].

In the more than 60 years since the explosion of the first nuclear weapon, the “nuclear club” has grown from one nation to nine. In all that time, nuclear weapons have remained on the ground. No nuclear weapons-or, indeed, weapons of any kind have been launched into orbit. Space remains a weapons-free (although not a military-free) zone.

If some leaders in the Pentagon get their way, that will change. While the world is preoccupied with Iraq and the “war on terror,” the United States is quietly moving forward with plans to develop “space control” and “global engagement” capabilities-euphemisms for weapons in space. Since 9/11, this issue and the related issue of ballistic-missile defense have receded from the headlines. These issues deserve much more public scrutiny and discussion than they have received so far.

At present, the military use of space is for communication and spy satellites (as well as the global positioning system that serves everyone). If this nation or any nation were to cross a threshold by launching weapons into space, it would provoke a competition for national superiority in space, one almost surely dominated by the United States. Even the deployment of ground-based antisatellite (ASAT) weapons would constitute a serious departure from current pactice....  

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• Summer 2004