‘Escalation of military space activities,’ like China’s recent an...
“Escalation of military space activities,” like China’s recent anti-satellite test, may not have an immediate impact on commercial satellites, but could cause future “collateral damage,” economist Harold Furchtgott-Roth, an ex-FCC comr., said in a N.Y. Sun article. “Anti-satellite technology…
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threatens all satellites of the future” and there are few laws to stop it, he wrote: “Much like the diffusion of nuclear technology over the past 60 years, anti-satellite technology will likely be held by dozens of countries and nongovernmental entities in the not too distant future… Of course, the collateral damage from military operations gone awry threatens all commercial activities, not just satellites. But land-based systems tend to have more robustness and redundancy than space systems.” Commercial space efforts face “daunting challenges” such as the long lead times to build satellites and the risk of launch and post-launch failure, he said: “Now add an increasingly hostile space environment where rogue nations have access to space technologies.” The toughest part: “Space is as lawless as it is vast… Space is a public commons with few if any laws or property rights… One day, a commercial satellite may be disabled in a collision with space debris or blinded inadvertently by a laser intended for military purposes. What recourse would a commercial satellite operator have? It turns out, very little.”