Leaving no space for rivals?

The demarcation between military and civilian space programmes is increasingly getting blurred as more and more countries are joining the bandwagon of developing missiles and decoding military information systems under the guise of space programmes.

 

 To begin with, the United States is dovetailing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its military space programmes in terms of information and data that is sourced by its military establishments. The use of US space programmes during warfare is the testimony of extensive usage of the most valuable information like communication, navigation and weather. For instance, in the Operation Desert Storm, the space products were integrated with military planning and operations. Similarly, Russia’s space programmes too are incorporated to its military objectives. With its renewed verve, it is including orbital grouping of spacecrafts, missile attack warning systems, missile defence systems in its military space activities. Likewise, China recently destroyed its own weather satellite by Anti-Satellite Missiles creating 35,000 pieces of debris in the space. It was almost as if a star war had begun. Iran commenced its national space programme in 1998 and around the same time, it tested the Shahab-3 missile which was the beginning of a series of longer range missile development spree like IRSL-X-2 and Shahab-6. And finally North Korea, which is believed to be following in China's footsteps of developing intercontinental ballistic missiles under the pretext of satellite launch. The launch of satellites in 1998 and 2006 can easily be modified to ballistic missiles capable of threatening nations like Japan and United States.

 

 The concurrent space race is creating a dangerous footboard for competition and rivalry among various regional and political blocs. Today, America is being challenged by China and Russia, not to mention the stealth of Iran and North Korea. The UN and the responsible members of it must create a convention that will rein in these catastrophic war games. The NPT was late in curbing nuclear proliferation that resulted in the ongoing tug-of-war with Iran and North Korea. The space race is going the nuclear way as budgets are increasing manifold with US dedicating $48.8 billion while Russia allocating $2.8 billion for the same purpose. Space militarisation would soon go out of control if the world doesn't learn from the mistakes of NPT. They should act before there is no space left in the space!