Enabled by advanced technologies, the past few decades have seen a revolution in the utility and criticality of space systems for military operations as well as for essential civilian services and humanitarian relief operations. The military dependence on space systems has spurred the re-emergent competition of developing counterspace capabilities in major spacefaring nations. In parallel, military and commercial space systems have converged such that military operations make routine use of commercial systems and essential civilian services are now reliant on dual-use space systems. As the spectre of potential future armed conflict extending to outer space looms, essential civilian services including humanitarian relief are at risk of being disrupted or significantly degraded due to military operations against satellites and space infrastructure.
In this post, part of a series on War, Law and Outer Space, Gilles Doucet of Spectrum Space Security Inc., and Dr Stuart Eves of SJE Space Ltd, review the evolving and converging aspects of military and essential civilian space services, causes and results, highlight the risks to the civilian population should space systems be targeted and offer some policy options to mitigate civilian harm.
