Unregulated Global Satellites

          Free use of communications satellites is critical to our global infrastructure. The survival of our culture by having a lack of policing of our satellite system and over-regulation has allowed the satellite industry to flourish. Cellphones, GPS, internet communications, and remote sensing of our weather patterns, and land activity has helped our civilization in innumerable ways. Aircraft, the military, and land transportations are dependent on GPS for navigation, an imaging for everything else. We need to be careful about what type of defensive weapons we put into space.

         The development of “Star Wars” programs in the 1980’s is still going on today. Space based laser defense and offensive space based systems will be necessary to protect our satellites in orbit as countries such as hostile Middle East countries develop space based systems. There will be a space war when we discover resources on asteroids and the profit it can bring to member states. There were projects in the works to put lasers in the space shuttle for defensive and offensive applications such as Talon Gold and Starlab programs (USAF 1990). There is debate about putting defensive satellites into space. In accordance with the Outer Space Treaty no nuclear weapons can be put into orbit. But, it doesn’t preclude the use of defensive systems to protect space assets. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) Program the development and research for weapons systems by the United States and Russia will create a new space race for the dominance of space. Politicians and the military prey upon the fears and paranoia of people in the interest of national security. After 911 we spend trillions of dollars to make people feel safe, instead of having put into place a better security alert system, or have Tasers on all airplanes for the pilots to deal with terrorists. ElAl the Israeli airlines have never had a highjacking due to proactive security measures set into place on airplanes. Space satellites should all be equipped with limited range defensive lasers and shielding technology (York 1989). Americans are reactionary when dealing with technological threats. We don’t deal with problems such as energy, or global climate change until it reaches a critical stage.

Works Cited

Chapman, Bert. Space Warfare and Defense. Oxford, England: ABC Clio, 2008.

USAF. Starlab Program Final Envionmental Asessment. August 1990. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:QC0_l5-Yr3kJ:www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/report/enviro/StarlabSum.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgp_gBKEzFVPJ6_mTT11J9srmiiOh7gqhgnpZ_pCLb641BOlOLwD7cdaVOlMsEMxiuiWLzdvFJPUeHrmz-PPixKecnp9UI_lZ37i9F (accessed 12 12, 2012).

York, Sanford Lakoff & Herbert F. A Shield in Space? Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1989.