The Bush Admin just issued a new National Space Policy (revised for the first time in 10 years). An earlier report indicates they were trying to do this on the quiet and are presenting it as nothing really new, just a variation on Clinton’s space policy.
From the unclassified portion:
Issues for debate:
Is anybody in the U.S. government actually planning to deploy space-based weapons? Or do they just want to keep the possibility open?
How far does this really differ from earlier space policies, including Clinton’s?
Does this policy accord with currently existing international law?
I got the above news, BTW, from the blog of SF writer Jerry Pournelle – who supports the U.S. deploying weapons in space, was one of the early proponents of SDI, and by some accounts contributed to Reagan’s speech introducing the program.
Well right now there is about 4 or 5 countrys other than the states that either have a space program or can develop one, sooner or later one of them might decide that taking out some space assets like the spy and comm satellites will seriously degrade American ability to wage war effectively, so in the near term it probably allows the armed forces to think about defending the high frontier.
Probably not. Its going to be a few decades before the navy puts a battlecruiser into orbit and by the time we have a space engagement that goes public , it wont really matter what the rest of the world thinks. By the time we know about it , the general public , most nations that can will at least be thinking of counter measures.
I would think that a study of history would show that history is often made by those who dare to do the “unthinkable”. China certainly is a potential threat, and while they are openeing up further everyday, their government doesn’t like ours, and vice versa. Analysts on both sides are probably trying to figure out how to gain or keep a tactical advantage, in the event things ever get hot… for an enemy of the US, taking out the GPS system would be vital to help hinder our guided munitions. The disruption of satellites that observe and track things would also be necessary, in the event of a war or conflict.
Russia
Iran
Pakistan
India
Any number of rich Middle Eastern nations, if they suddenly wanted to be global players.
All of those are nations that could or do have the ability to take things from the ground, and put them in orbit. Any government in the world looks at that, and tries to think of ways to counter it.
Space, for good or ill, will be weaponized. Count on it.
Actually, I think only Russia and China have that capability. And the U.S. and the European Space Agency. The others – they could potentially build a space program but not without the world finding out long before they were in a position to deploy weapons in space.
Given the actual difficulty of building space-based weapons, I’m not too worried about the practical upshot of this. However, I could very well see this turning into an egregiously lardy barrel of pork, like Reagan’s SDI, that space contractors will be slavering over for many years to come.
