Since prehistoric times humans have had an enduring curiosity to understand what lies beyond something. What is over that next ridge, what is beyond that grove of trees, what is at the bottom of the waterfall, what land is on the opposite side of the ocean? This curiosity and the resulting exploration tested humanity in ways that required innovation. The invention of the wheel provided the means to build wagons to transport goods overland across large distances, which led to exploration beyond the sky. Let us discuss the boon and bane in the Space age which humans face [1].       

Contradiction On Investing in Space

We are spending billions of dollars on sending things into Outer Space when we have some problems down here on the ground. Extreme drought, heat waves and climate change. Over 3 billion people, nearly half of all humans on the planet are living in poverty. Millions of children are without access to education, important problems to focus on. Many viewpoints to question government and private company’s policy to invest billions of dollars a year in Space exploration and research exist [2]. 

The reasons are Space exploration and technology is an important and efficient way to understand how our planet is changing. It is the way we can bring our entire planet to the digital age. Moreover, it is our best strategy for ensuring the survival of the human species. So, Space exploration may not be the worst. It helps solve some of the most significant challenges humans have ever faced.

Origin of the Space-Age Era

When aerial technology gave birth to airplanes at the beginning of the 20th century, humans acquired the technical capabilities to reach the Space age. Today airplanes take up to 30,000 feet altitude, allowing us to fly above the clouds at nearly 600miles/hour. Halfway through the 20th century, we invented technology to go even further. Consequently, the satellite era began. The first artificial satellite had been launched at a low orbit area that extended 200 miles above the earth. Today, in the 21st century, over thousands of operating satellites orbit our planet, they service us daily with weather prediction, television programming, navigation, reconnaissance photography, radar imaging and Space-based internet.

Space Race During the Cold-War

The Cold-War saw a competition between the world’s two great superpowers, the democratic capitalist US and the communist Soviet Union. As WW2 was ending, the Americans and the soviets captured Germany’s rocket engineers and rocket technology.

On October 4, 1957 USSR became the first nation to launch an artificial satellite known as Sputnik 1. America quickly responded; within four months, the 1st US satellite Explorer 1, achieved orbit around the earth [3]. The next remarkable achievement was the first man in Space. In April 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth, traveling the Spacecraft Vostok 1. The Americans were embarrassed at being behind the Soviet Union. On May 25, 1961, President John F Kennedy announced that America would be the first to land on the moon and that was achieved by Neil Armstrong, who was the first man to step on the moon on July 20, 1969. By the 70s, the big rivalry in US-Soviet relations improved. In 1975, a joint Space program between the two superpowers called the Apollo-Soyuz mission would send US astronauts docking with the soviet vehicle in Space. The first joint US-Soviet Space flight and Handshake between the commanders of both crafts symbolized the improvement of US-Soviet relations. This was considered the end of the Space race [3].

Multipolarity in Space

The leading rivalry between the Space powers US-Soviet progressed from competition to cooperation and hence the number of Space actors increased. NASA's budget is the largest of all Space Agencies in the world at $22 billion. However, the other countries in Space funding spend a combined $24 billion on Space programs. The predominant countries are Canada, South Korea, UK, Italy, India, Germany, Japan, France, Russia and China [4].

Canada's Canadian Space Agency (CSA) spends around $315 million on its Space program. South Korea's Korea AeroSpace Research Institute (KARI) spends around $600 million on its Space Program. The UK spends around $900 million on Space Exploration between the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) and its European Space Agency (ESA) contributions. Italy spends around $1.1 billion between $666 million contributions to ESA and its $468 million in the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). India spends around $1.5 billion on its Space program, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Germany spends around $2.1 billion on Space, with $981 million going to ESA funding, 20% of ESA's budget. Japan spends $3 billion in total Space spending, including military Space programs. Moreover, $1.7 billion goes to their civil Space program, The Japan AeroSpace Exploration Agency or JAXA. France is the centerpiece of Space Exploration in Europe, both literally and figuratively. They spend around $3.1 Billion on Space. It is the most significant contributor to ESA at almost 27%. Of that, $1.8 billion goes to the Centre National d'études Spatiales (CNES) [5]. 

Furthermore, now, ESA considers that the UK, Italy, Germany and France account for over 70% of its budget. However, let us quickly acknowledge ESA's remaining member states. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. ESA was formed in 1975 to coordinate the financial resources so that its members could work on programs far beyond the scope of any single European country. The most exciting ESA projects are about the two modules they are developing for the Lunar Gateway. Russia spends $3.4 billion on its Space program Roscosmos. China's Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) spends $5.8 billion in Space between military Space funding and it’s Space Program. In today's scenario, the Space environment is no longer the sole preserve of government monopoly in the Space sector. Today Private companies have entered the exploration domain in future planetary outer Space projects and drive the sector forward more energetically, at lightening speeds.

Militarization and Weaponization of Space

Space, the frontier where no war has been fought before, Space is extremely important for modern military. Because of the unique vantage point that Space provides – with a small constellation of satellites, we can see everything happening in the world at once. With cloud-penetrating radar, even a rainy day will not hide the Enemy from our sight.

When examining the use of Space for war-related activities, an important distinction must be made between militarization and weaponization of Space. 

The term militarization refers to Space for military purposes, reconnaissance, targeting, communication, direct attack, or anything else. In this sense, Space was militarized decades ago. The armed forces of advanced countries, as the United States and its competitors like Russia and China, have developed satellites in orbit to perform such tasks and support their combat operations on Earth [6].

On the other hand, the term weaponization has a more specific meaning. It indicates the deployment of weapons in Space. Space could soon be weaponized and in some sense, it already is. But to understand the scope of this trend, it is first necessary to consider the legal framework of Space use. 

Due to its nature, Space is part of the global commons. It is, therefore, a domain that anyone can freely access and exploit for various activities. This conception underlies the legal framework on the use of Space and this is why there have been efforts to prevent its militarization and most of all, its weaponization. However, important juridical vacuums remain and they leave room for exploiting Space for military purposes [7].

In this sense, the most important treaty is the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, to which a total of 107 countries have adhered, including the US, Russia and China. It aims to regulate activity in Space and, in particular, to avoid an arms race. It states that the exploration and use of outer Space shall be carried out for the benefit and interest of all countries. The Space shall be free for exploration and use by all states. However, its most important provision appears in Article IV, which reads, state parties to the treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer Space in any other manner. It also establishes the peaceful use of the moon and other celestial bodies. The treaty, therefore, explicitly forbids the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in Space. But despite the will to promote the peaceful use of this domain, there is no explicit prohibition on the placement of non-weapons of mass destruction weapons in Space.

Then many resolutions of the UN General Assembly call for avoiding the military use of Space and ensuring that only peaceful activities take place there. However, for their very nature, they are not binding. Still, it may be argued that the existing juridical body and the expressed desires of states to grant that Space remains a domain to be used only for peaceful purposes are already sufficient to create a binding norm against the weaponization of Space, but this remains subject to interpretation. Most importantly, the behaviour of states in recent years is going in the opposite direction, thus weakening the solidity and even the existence of this norm.

Despite calls for the peaceful use of outer Space, in practice, this domain is already militarized. It is central to the national security of many countries. First of all, the US has deployed numerous satellites in Space, employed for intelligence gathering, targeting and navigation via GPS and communications. Space is therefore vital for the ability of the US armed forces to operate effectively. Moreover, on the other hand, Russia and China are engaged in developing ASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapons following India. While the US, Russia and China are undoubtedly the main actors in weaponizing Space, they are not the only ones. Besides them, Japan, India and Israel are testing ASAT systems, along with Germany, Italy and France, who also have their own reconnaissance satellites. In addition, North Korea has recently launched a satellite and Iran is also working on ASAT systems. Finally, the United States, Russia, China and India tested anti-satellite missiles by bringing down their testing satellites. Nevertheless, China was widely criticized for a 2007 test that produced more than 3,000 pieces of Space debris. 

These bring us to the nightmare scenario: If rival nations started destroying each other’s satellites, it would create debris clouds that could trigger a chain reaction, destroying all satellites. It has called the Kessler Effect, first described by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler. Soon, Earth’s upper atmosphere would become clogged with debris, making Space inaccessible for generations.

As discussed, Space has been militarized and new systems developed by major powers are leading to its weaponization. Even though military technology only brings us most inventions for civilian use, such as the Internet, the computer, the digital camera, GPS, wireless communications and so on, has to be expected that this trend will continue. It is logically expected that in case of conflict, Space will turn into a battleground and this Space will be soon get contaminated, because “where man goes, war follows”.

1. Bhatt, S. Studies in Aerospace Law: From Competition to Cooperation. Sterling Publishers, 1974.

2. Tripathi, P.N. “Weaponisation and militarisation of space.” CLAWS Journal, 2013.

3. “The cold war for kids: Space race.” Ducksters, 2021, https://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/Space_race.php.

4. “Star Wars: US ‘anti-space mine’ launch signals new phase in celestial arms race (VIDEO).” RT International, 2016, www.rt.com/viral/356712-Space-arms-war-satellite.

5. Bizony, R. et al. “The institution of engineering and technology.” EandT, July 2020, eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2011/10/debate-for-and-against-space-exploration-is-space-research-a-waste-of-time.

6. “List of government space agencies.” Wikipedia, 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_space_agencies#Budgets.

7. Matignon, L.De.G. “The origins of the space age.” Space Legal Issues, June 2019, www.spacelegalissues.com/the-origins-of-the-space-age.