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Space Security
Even today, the world is moving towards a new
reality where humanity will depend increasingly
on a new space economy and it will be recognised
that space hazards can threaten global prosperity.
A study by Lloyd’s of London, for example, has
suggested that a massive coronal mass ejection
(CME) from the Sun could result in a two trillion
dollar hit to the North American electrical power
grid. The US National Intelligence Council found that
a major CME to be one of seven major ‘black swan’
events that the world should prepare for.
Thismay have beenone of the reasons that President
Obama inearlyOctober 2016 signed anExecutiveOrder
that assigned specific authority toNASA, theDepartment
of Defense, theNational Science Foundation and the
Department of HomelandSecurity to copewith amajor
CMEevent. The recent determination about the shift in
Earth’smagnetic poles byESA’s SwarmandNASA’sMMS
satellites raises this concernevenhigher since it is the
magnetic poles that shape theVanAllenBelts andprotect
us fromCMEblasts.
Although the UN General Assembly recently
endorsed the new International Asteroid Warning
Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning
Advisory Group (SMPAG) to help coordinate a
better defence against asteroids, we are a long
way from a global space governance system for
planetary defence.
In fact, as UNISPACE+50 prepares to convene in
2018 what is striking is that the world is really not
prepared for the emerging new global space economy
and the new longer term uses of deeper space.
There are widening gaps in space governance
regardless of whether it is for new types of
space business, space exploration and research,
environmental concerns, space defence and security,
space traffic management, space debris, frequency
management, liability, or ownership and use of space
natural resources.
A new space activity that has recently excited
attention is that of space mining. Four US companies
- Deep Space Industries, Planetary Resources,
Moon Express and Shackleton Resources - have
already declared their intention to engage in natural
resource extraction.
Indeed, a new US law enacted in December 2015
seems to give the right for companies, nationally
licensed to do so, to reclaim and own extracted
resources ‘consistent with international law’
obligations of the US.
Already some have claimed that authorising
such space mining activity is tantamount to a claim
of sovereignty over the celestial body where the
extraction would take place. Those proposing to
undertake this type of extraction says this is not the
case and that extraction is just the same as fishing in
the open seas of international waters.
This type of uncertainty in the world of global
space governance - such as who can undertake space
mining and under what terms - is but one example of
why international agreement is needed. Governments
and space-related businesses both need to know what
the way forward will be for the longer term.
There will indeed be a need for a regulatory
framework under which totally new types of activities
can be carried out peacefully and in a business-like
manner. There will need to be some form of rules
that stops space businesses - or countries - fighting
over why, when and how these activities will be
accomplished. These will involve sorting out issues
such as safety, liability, environmental concerns,
ownership - or sharing of resources of the ‘common
heritage of humankind’ - and so.
These ‘rules of the road’ will cover activities like
those associated with solar power satellites and
ground based ‘rectennas’, asteroid and celestial
body mining, material processing in space, and even
the establishing and operation of space bases and
colonies. There will be a number of thorny issues
that will create the most difficulty and angst.
The main issues today seem to be those related
to global sharing and the so-called ‘common
There will
indeed be a
need for a
regulatory
framework
under which
totally new
types of
activities can
be carried out
peacefully and
in a business-
like manner
