The 21st Century Space Race Is Here
If the international community were to seek a meaningful arms control agreement or behavior-restricting treaty for space, it would need to consider what on the spectrum of offensive tactics constitutes an “attack” or “weapon,” which are the most likely to occur and which can be reasonably constrained.
In the meantime, we can only hope that full-fledged ASAT warfare will remain just as it is today: a hypothetical scenario far, far away from the grind of daily life on Earth.
Mary Chesnut is a Program Manager at the Nuclear Security Working Group at the George Washington University. Mary has an MA in National Security Studies from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, and a BA in Russian from Rhodes College. This research was part of her work in the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Nuclear Scholars Initiative at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. The views reflected in this article are the author’s alone and do not reflect the views of any of the institutions mentioned above.
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