{"id":70506,"date":"2024-04-18T07:28:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T05:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistaidees.cat\/analisis\/diari-de-les-idees\/idees-dactualitat-la-geopolitica-de-lespai\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T07:58:20","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T05:58:20","slug":"idees-dactualitat-la-geopolitica-de-lespai","status":"publish","type":"newspaper","link":"https:\/\/revistaidees.cat\/en\/analisis\/diari-de-les-idees\/idees-dactualitat-la-geopolitica-de-lespai\/","title":{"rendered":"Idees d’actualitat – The geopolitics of space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For some time now, and increasingly so, space is a domain in which a growing number of players are competing, deploying infrastructures, and fine-tuning technologies that generate expectations and hopes for scientific and economic progress, but also misgivings and concerns about security, sustainability, and privacy. Indeed, many countries are investing a huge amount of economic, technological, and human resources to obtain an improved access to the space, which is beginning to have a major geopolitical impact, especially as space is becoming a critical arena from a military and strategic point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the moment, the USA continues to be the undisputed leader, but the space program of the People\u2019s Republic of China is increasingly more developed and US intelligence expects that by 2030, Beijing will dispute U.S. space hegemony in the military, economic and diplomatic spheres, while Russia sees its offensive space capabilities shrinking and Indian space power is growing steadily. Contrary to a Europe that seems to have neither the ambition nor the real possibilities to become a global space power beyond excellence in civil and scientific activities, given that its investments are subject to the logic of economic return and the national interests of its member states. We must also highlight that what we could name as the democratization of technology through cost reduction is allowing many countries to develop space programs that were unthinkable some years ago. This is the case of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and Luxembourg, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the first era of the space race was defined by the geopolitics of the Cold War, and there were only two actors dominating the scene, the participants and potential winners of this new era won\u2019t be those that have higher technological progress, but those who also have more regulatory power and lead the most innovative economic, legal, social and political institutions adapted to the new spatial paradigm. Meanwhile, the increasing number of countries and enterprises that operate in Earth\u2019s orbit and beyond has raised some red flags about the increasing militarization of space. Until now, only Russia, China, the US, and India have proved that they have anti-satellite weapons, designed to disable or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes, but now everything indicates that other countries, including Iran and Israel are already developing these kinds of weapons. Moreover, this militarization is aggravated by private intervention, as demonstrated by the role of Starlink and its satellites in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proliferation of new programs and innovative developments, for example, the use of quantum technologies, represent another turning point in space exploration, since they promise to redefine the way space and its resources are explored and even exploited. Furthermore, the ways in which space is used are being redefined by growing satellite constellations (half of which belong to Elon Musk), which could give way to an era of hyperconnectivity that poses serious challenges to the sustainable development of the space environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, as the quantity of satellites and other civil devices that navigate through space increases (currently they represent more than 8,700 active satellites around the earth), so does the amount of space debris, which can be either entire satellites that are no longer used or functional or tiny fragments of spacecraft and launch vehicles left in orbit. Thus, the European Space Agency<\/a> estimates that more than 130 million fragments of debris are currently wandering through space, of which only 35,000 are large enough (more than 10 cm) to be tracked from Earth. An issue that should be of concern since inactive objects in orbit carry a risk of collision between them, which could cause a further increase in space debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it is necessary to check the governance of a space increasingly privatized, since everything indicates the obsolescence of the regime that regulated the relations until now. In fact, the Outer Space Treaty<\/a> (OST) from 1967 established a regime of governance of space that defined it as a common patrimony, and it only allowed a peaceful use for the benefit of all humanity. Except for few infringements \u2013like anti-satellite missiles tests conducted by the US, Russia, China, and India\u2013 this regime predominantly peaceful has allowed until now the development of a space globalization based in many cases on satellites in Earth orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, since 2015, the US has begun to question the principles of the OST, with the approval of the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act<\/a>, which recognizes the private appropriation of any kind of resource discovered in outer space. Therefore, the last decade has seen a strong development of a new spatial economy, in which the private sector and many industrial and service representatives are increasingly involved. Thus, the possibility of discovering and exploiting new natural resources, with all the consequences that it could have for the technical progress of the future as a synonym of power, exacerbates tensions between countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In front of this evolution, a new system of international governance of the space is needed, considering that the current standards are no longer able to react in a sector that evolves at such a rapid pace. Indeed, only securing control of the use of weapons in the space and the application of sustainable models of exploitation will prevent that the growing tensions of the Earth have consequences in the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The geopolitics of outer space should not be dissociated from the social, environmental, economic, or political issues that concern us on Earth, since we all depend on the continued peaceful governance of outer space and its maintenance as global commons. Every day, thousands of millions of people use satellite connected devices to navigate, to know the weather forecast and to communicate. The militarization of space puts at risk the delicate infrastructure on which modern life depends, while its privatization opens the door for various commercial actors to frustrate the interests of the global scientific community. On the other hand, the privatization and pollution of space near the Earth on the part of a few puts at risk the spatial development of many others. This is also the belief of the United Nations, which considers access to space an essential factor in achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, the new era of space competition in which we are living raises several economic, ecological, and scientific challenges that generate some key questions for the future: Which actors are currently leading the race, and which could be the new players? Which private economic sectors could benefit the most? What could the new space economy mean for the well-being of societies? How will the exponential increase in space traffic and waste impact climate sustainability on Earth? What technological developments could be accelerated, for example, in terms of quantum cryptography? How is space shaping up as a military arena in a context of growing international tensions? What should a new system of global governance of space look like? The answers to these questions will largely define the future evolution of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photography: pxhere.com<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eduard Mayol, trainee student at the CETC, has participated in this issue of Idees d\u2019actualitat<\/em>.<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some time now, and increasingly so, space is a domain in which a growing number of players are competing, deploying infrastructures, and fine-tuning technologies that generate expectations and hopes for scientific and economic progress, but also misgivings and concerns about security, sustainability, and privacy. Indeed, many countries are investing a huge amount of economic, technological, and human resources to obtain an improved access to the space, which is beginning to have a major geopolitical impact, especially as space is becoming a critical arena from a military and strategic point of view. For the moment, the USA continues to be\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":70417,"template":"","category_newspaper":[584],"segment":[],"subject":[],"class_list":["post-70506","newspaper","type-newspaper","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category_newspaper-584"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIdees d'actualitat - The geopolitics of space – IDEES<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/revistaidees.cat\/en\/analisis\/diari-de-les-idees\/idees-dactualitat-la-geopolitica-de-lespai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Idees d'actualitat - The geopolitics of space – IDEES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For some time now, and increasingly so, space is a domain in which a growing number of players are competing, deploying infrastructures, and fine-tuning technologies that generate expectations and hopes for scientific and economic progress, but also misgivings and concerns about security, sustainability, and privacy. 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