Here’s how the US and China will militarize space
China and the United States, whatever the treaties may say, are proceeding with the militarization of extraterrestrial space, which has quickly become a 'strategic resource'. James Hansen's Diplomatic Note
The 'extra-atmospheric' space—that is, all the rest of the Universe beyond the Earth—should be, according to an international treaty that came into force in 1967, the "common heritage of humanity". 'Common heritage' is a slippery concept, easy to embrace when, at the time of signing, no power had reached beyond Earth's orbit.
A lot has changed since then. In fact, Russia no longer aspires to be a spacefaring nation. The USA, once it reached the Moon (1969), seemed to have definitively won the ' space race ', and their interest has considerably diminished. China, at that time still the extremely poor country of Mao Tse-tung, could not even feed itself, much less dream of the stars.
Now, even if there hasn't been a surge in popular enthusiasm for this issue comparable to that of the 1960s, the big countries—at least two, China and the United States—are back in the race and, whatever the treaties may say, proceed with the militarization of extraterrestrial space, which has quickly become a 'strategic resource'. Meanwhile, other countries, not all of the 'front line', send their satellites into orbit. India launches its lunar probes and even the United Arab Emirates send a first 'Arab' probe to Mars. Much of this is a matter of national prestige, but it is also a way of claiming 'a seat at the table' while dealing the cards for the extraterrestrial future.
The United States, shocked and surprised by Chinese space activism, is the country that is doing the most, at least from a public point of view. In addition to the announced intention of returning to the moon, which proved to be more difficult than expected, the US government is equipping itself with new structures that will further 'politicise' space. The US State Department recently issued a 25-page document outlining the creation of a “ strategic framework for space diplomacy” with the intention of: “…build international partnerships for civil and national security in space, promote a rules- based international order for outer space and work to secure the United States and its allies from space-enabled threats”. The document was released a day after China announced its plans to send three astronauts to the moon “by 2030”…
The most spectacular of the American initiatives is instead the creation of a new armed force, the Space Force, an entity independent of the three already existing military corps—navy, air force and army—and explicitly intended to fight any wars in space. The Space Force has a uniform with a sci-fi flavor, a 'hymn' and even a motto: “Sempra supra”, on the model of the US Marines' “Semper fidelis”. What the 13,000 "Guardians"—the very 'promotional' nickname created to distinguish their personnel from sailors, aviators and soldiers—is missing is a mission to carry out: for now, they are not going into space, that is up to NASA astronauts, nor is it well known what they must do on earth…
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ecco-come-usa-e-cina-militarizzeranno-lo-spazio/ on Sun, 30 Jul 2023 05:50:04 +0000.