03/01/07 U.S., World Must Reaffirm Safe, Peaceful Use For Space

U.S., World Must Reaffirm Safe, Peaceful Use For Space

The Capital Times
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Lee Brown

It happened on Jan. 11. The New York Times reported it on Jan. 19. China confirmed it on Jan. 23.

By shooting down an aging weather satellite, China drew attention to the "big picture story" about what is happening in the space around planet Earth.

This "long story" started on Oct. 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. The United States joined the world community in establishing the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Space in the late 1950s and in 1967 the Outer Space Treaty. Everyone agreed "that the exploration and use of outer space should be carried on for the benefit of all peoples."

Much has happened since 1967. There are now 845 active satellites orbiting the Earth. The United States owns or operates 443, or more than half.

Click here to find out more! People around the world enjoy the benefits made possible by the satellites. But China's shooting down of its own satellite has alerted us that all this and much more could be lost forever unless we negotiate an agreement strengthening the Outer Space Treaty.

The idea of "Space Wars" is not new. U.S. spending on missile defense each year since President Reagan's 1983 "Star Wars" speech has been a minimum of $2.7 billion.

Over the years, while the Pentagon was preparing to use space for fighting wars, U.S. spokesmen at United Nations gatherings were resisting the strengthening of Space Law. In 1995, for example, the United States opposed a UNISPACE III conference because of budgetary constraints and prevented action to outlaw nuclear power and an arms race in space.

In 2002 in the U.N., Sri Lanka introduced and China, Russia and other countries co-sponsored Resolution 56/23, which called for prevention of an arms race in outer space. The vote on the resolution, similar to that in previous years, was 156 for, 0 opposed, and 4 abstentions (United States, Israel, Micronesia, and a new recruit, Georgia), which made it as close to unanimity as possible.

During the war in Iraq the militarization of space reached a new level. In April 2003 Pam Zubeck reported in the Gazette (Colorado Springs) that local satellite controllers relied on about 50 satellites -- controlled primarily in Colorado Springs and Denver -- "to orchestrate quick attacks, warn of storms and keep field commanders informed."

On Jan. 11, when China successfully carried out its first test of an anti-satellite weapon, China signaled its resolve to play a major role in military space activities. This brought expressions of concern from Washington.

Keep in mind that in late August 2006, President Bush authorized a new national space policy. The policy ignored calls for a global prohibition on testing anti-satellite weapons. It said that the United States would "preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space" and "dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so." In addition, it said that the United States would "deny, if necessary, adversaries use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."

Clearly President Bush's New National Space Policy is not in the United States' national interest because:

1. It fails to respect the property rights of other countries who own 402, or 47 percent, of the active satellites now orbiting the Earth.

2. The world, not just the United States, benefits from the satellites now orbiting the Earth.

3. The world community needs satellites to measure the impact of global climate change and other environmental trends.

4. Any hostile acts and war would create space debris seriously threatening functioning satellites. In 2002 about 6 million pounds of space debris from dead satellites, traveling at 17,000 mph, were already orbiting the Earth.

The United States must join with the world community in negotiating a treaty to protect all satellites in space, and to reaffirm that all use of space will benefit all human kind.