Anti-lost, accessible by elevator
Safety Island newspaperman Liu Yadong A
To a large extent, space is an international arena for peace and collaboration, and the International Space Station is a good example.
Image credit: NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center/Flickr, CC BY-NC
On November 15, 2021, Russia launched a missile from the Earth's surface to destroy one of their old satellites, creating a huge cloud of debris that threatened many space assets, including astronauts on the International Space Station. Ironically, just two weeks before the accident, the United Nations General Assembly First Committee formally acknowledged that space and space assets play an important role in international efforts to improve the human experience, and that space military activities may pose risks to those efforts.
The First Committee of the United Nations is responsible for addressing disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community. On 1 November, the Un's First Committee approved a resolution establishing an open-ended working group to assess current and future threats to space operations, determine when such conduct may be considered irresponsible, "make recommendations on possible norms, rules and principles for responsible conduct" and "contribute to the negotiation of a legally binding instrument," including a treaty to prevent an arms race in space.
It is refreshing that the United Nations acknowledges the harsh reality that peace in space remains fragile, and that this timely solution has been approved as space activity becomes increasingly important and recent Russian tests have shown that tensions are escalating further.
Current space operations are governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, established within the United Nations.
Image source: Basile Basil D Soufi/WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA
Outer Space Treaty of 1967
Outer space is by no means a vacuum belt of law.
Space activities are governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which has now been ratified by 111 countries. The Outer Space Treaty was negotiated in the shadow of the Cold War, when only two countries, the Soviet Union and the United States, had space capabilities.
In 2021, China's manned space project carried out five launch missions, successfully launching the space station Tianhe core module, Tianzhou-2 and Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft, Shenzhou 12 and Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft into orbit. The Chinese space station assembly is stable in a near-circular orbit at an altitude of 390 kilometers, with an orbital inclination of about 41.5°. During this period, the star1ink satellite launched by spaceX approached the Chinese space station twice. For safety reasons, the space station assembly implemented preventative collision avoidance control ("emergency collision avoidance") for the U.S. Starlink satellite on July 1 and October 21, respectively.
Credit: Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
While the Outer Space Treaty provides broad principles to guide States' space activities, it does not provide detailed "road regulations". In essence, the treaty guarantees the freedom of all mankind to explore and use space, while the real restrictive clause has only two articles, so a variety of problems arise.
The first restrictive clause states that the Moon and other celestial bodies must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and must not be of a forced or violent nature. But in this general ban, other space spaces are not included, and the only guidance in this regard can be found in the preamble to the treaty, which recognizes the "common interest" in "advancing the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes." The second restrictive clause states that those operating in space must "take due account of the corresponding interests of all other States parties to the Treaty".
A major problem is that the treaty does not provide any clear definition for "peaceful purposes" or "due consideration".
While the Outer Space Treaty explicitly prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction at any location in space, what it does not prohibit is the use of conventional weapons in space or the destruction of space assets by weapons on the ground, and whether certain weapons fall within the confines of the Treaty.
The vague military limitations in the treaty leave plenty of room for interpretation that would eventually give rise to conflict.
Non-military satellites, such as those used for weather forecast imagery, can also provide important military functions.
Image credit: NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center/Flickr, CC BY
Space activity is militarized or potential conflict is brewing
Space has been used for military purposes since Germany first launched the V2 rocket in 1942.
The full name of the V2 is "Vergeltungswaffe-2", which means "retaliatory weapon-2", is a long-range ballistic missile developed by Nazi Germany in World War II, and the world's earliest ballistic missile for actual combat use, which was successfully tested for the first time in 1942. On June 20, 1944, the German V2 rocket successfully crossed the Kármán line into outer space, becoming the first man-made object in human history to fly into space, so it can be regarded as the world's first spacecraft. 】
Many early satellites, GPS technology, soviet space stations, and even NASA space shuttles were explicitly targeted for military purposes or have been used for military purposes.
As commercialization increases, the line between military and civilian uses in space is increasingly blurred. Most people know that satellites bring us many ground benefits, such as weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and Internet connectivity, but many people don't know that they can also increase agricultural yields and monitor human rights abuses. The new space economy is rushing to develop space activities based on Earth, the Moon, and both, suggesting that humanity's economic dependence on space will only increase.
However, satellites that bring us life benefits on Earth can also play or are already playing a military role. We have to admit that the line between military and civilian uses remains blurred and that potential conflicts are likely to occur at any time. Growing commercial activity could also lead to controversy over areas of space activity, triggering military responses from governments.
Military testing
So far, there has been no direct military conflict in space, but countries are already stepping up efforts to prove their military prowess in and out of space, with Russia's Nov. 15 anti-satellite (ASAT) test just one recent example.
Anti-satellite testing is an attack, destructive research experiment against satellites in orbit in outer space, and is not a common space activity, with the exception of Russia (and the former Soviet Union), only the United States, China and India have conducted anti-satellite tests. Today, anti-satellite tests are criticized by the space community for threatening the safety of astronauts in low-Earth orbit.
The new United Nations resolution is very important because it initiates the development of new norms, rules and principles of responsible conduct. If done properly, space conflicts can be largely avoided.
From guidelines to actual implementation
Since 1959, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (U.N. The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has been dealing with related space activities.
However, the 95-member Committee was responsible for promoting international cooperation and studying the legal issues arising from outer space exploration. It lacks the capacity to implement the principles and guidelines set out in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, or even to allow the parties involved to negotiate.
In its November 2021 resolution, the United Nations requested that the newly established working group meet twice a year in 2022 and 2023. Such meetings are slightly less frequent than the pace of commercial spaceflight, but it is an important step in global space policy.
source:
NASA enthusiasts
Original Author:
Michelle M. L.D. Hanlon
Professor of Aerospace Law at the University of Mississippi
Greg Autry
Professor of Space Leadership, Policy and Business Practice at Arizona State University
(Note: A screenshot of a note verbale from the Permanent Mission of The People's Republic of China to the United Nations (Vienna) dated 3 December 2021 addressed to the Secretary-General is attached.
References:
[1] https://theconversation.com/space-law-hasnt-been-changed-since-1967-but-the-un-aims-to-update-laws-and-keep-space-peaceful-171351
[2] https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/gadis3676.doc.htm
[3] https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/outerspacetreaty.html
[4] https://www.theweek.in/news/sci-tech/2019/03/27/history-anti-satellite-weapon-us-asat-missile.html
[5]https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/oosadoc/data/documents/2021/aac.105/aac.1051262_0.html