The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla
Asking for Trouble, Creepy, and Weird
Oct. 19, 2006 | 14:44 PDT | 21:44 UTC
by Bill Nye
Yesterday, the United States government established new laws for its "space policy." It declares that the U.S. has the self-proclaimed right to deny access to space to anyone it (the U.S. government) feels is "hostile." Yikes. My fellow Society members, this is on one level asking for trouble. On another level, it's creepy. On yet another level, it's just weird. To couch it in diplomatic terms, it's "disturbing" and "a cause for concern."
On the "asking for trouble" level, what are other governments going to think of such a declaration? Well, probably that the U.S. has someone in mind. Most likely, people in the U.S. intelligence communities are buying the hype that shows up on some websites that other governments are constructing killer satellites, and that these governments are putting these devices in orbit so that they can, at a moment's notice, destroy U.S. spacecraft. In the military, these orbiting machines are called "assets." I, for one, am very, very skeptical of such claims. Very skeptical. I don't think other governments have any such thing(s). Look at all the trouble the U.S. went to in verifying that North Korea set off something that produced radioactivity. Putting rockets in space is hard to do and remain unnoticed. Also, I am pretty sure that if the Russian government had such a capability, they'd brag about it. If the Chinese government had such things, they'd have put a lot more taikonauts in orbit. If the Japanese government did such a thing. Every one would know. It would be my cell phone's start-up image. I am skeptical, as I mentioned a few sentences ago.
On the "creepy" level, this may be the work of people in the U.S. government who really don't know any better. The anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty was signed in 1973 in recognition of this fundamental fact: If you shoot down 99% of the incoming nuclear missiles, you lose. One warhead landing in New York, or Moscow, Beijing, or Pyongang and it's, as we say these days, "game over." Everyone could see that 33 years ago, and it's still true. Is it possible that we have people in the U.S. government, who don't know this?
Many of us rely on Global Positioning Satellites or Systems (GPS) to get around. That system was originally for the military. I hope they're still using it -- all the rest of us are. It means that weapons are already in space. Everyone using weather data, positioning data, solar flare activity data from space has the ability, in some way, to use those data for military means. I wonder if those who drafted this policy have that in mind.
From outside the halls of power, it looks like contractors, who want to continue to develop dead-end never-to-become-useful systems have bent enough ears in our government to get their representatives to support huge spending. So, we will lose more resources, more time, and cause more unease in the world out of some kind of baseless paranoia. It's creepy.
On the "weird" level, why announce this now? There's an election coming right up, but this is so far from what most of us concern ourselves with every day. Weird.
Fundamentally, our goals as members of The Planetary Society are to help humans know our place in the universe by exploring the heavens, especially planets that may have other life. It's inspirational. It's worthy of our species. It brings out the best in us. This new policy brings out the worst. It is disturbing and a cause for concern.
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