Wild Military Operations in Outer Space: A Sword of Damocles Hanging over the Future of Space Environment and Space Activities

Frigoli, Matteo

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70434-0_5

Matteo Frigoli¹⁴

Part of the book series: Studies in Space Policy ((STUDSPACE,volume 13))

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Abstract

This analysis will discuss the way in which the Outer Space Treaty faces the contemporary challenges of the expansion of militarization of outer space. Military and geopolitical reasons seem to freely dominate the outer space dimension. An examination of the relevant issues of the contemporary scenario is given before analyzing the legal framework in place. The Outer Space Treaty was drafted for the purpose of proscribing norms to an area that was without law. This legal regime was destined to confront the evolution of outer space technology especially in the military field. This assumption contains the premise of the proposal to reassess the nature of the Outer Space Treaty as a ductile legal framework and to set out a hierarchy based on the interpretation of Article IX of the Treaty.

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Notes

1.
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, 610 UNTS 205 (Outer Space Treaty).
2.
J. I. Gabrynowicz, “The Outer Space Treaty and enhancing space security,” UNIDIR, Building the Architecture for Sustainable Space Security: Conference Report 30–31 March 2006.
3.
George S. Robinson, Harold M. White, Envoys of Mankind: A Declaration of First Principles for the Governance of Space Societies (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986) at 181.
4.
Gabrynowicz (n.2).
5.
M. N. Schmitt, International Law and Military Operations in Space, in A. von Bogdandy, R. Wolfrum (eds.) Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (vol. 10, 2006, Brill Academic Publishers).
6.
Anél Ferreira-Snyman “Selected Legal Challenges Relating to the Military Use of Outer Space, with Specific Reference to Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty” (2015) 18(3) POTCHEFSTROOM ELEC. L.J. 488; Johannes M. Wolff “‘Peaceful uses’ of outer space has permitted its militarization: does it also mean its weaponization?” (2003) Disarmament Forum 5.
7.
oecd, The Space Economy at a Glance 2014 (2014, oecd publishing).
8.
Ferreira-Snyman (n.6).
9.
Schmitt (n.5) at 94.
10.
Ferreira-Snyman (n.6) quoting Fabio Tronchetti “A Soft Law Approach to Prevent the Weaponisation of Outer Space” in Irmgard Marboe (ed.) Soft Law in Outer Space: The Function of Non-binding Norms in International Space Law (Böhlau Verlag 2012) 361–386.
11.
Earl D. Matthews “U.S. Space Systems: A Critical Strength and Vulnerability” (Ph.D. Diss., Newport, RI, Naval War College, 1996).
12.
David A. Koplow, “ASAT-isfaction: Customary International Law and the Regulation of Anti-Satellite Weapons, in Michigan Journal of International Law” (2009) 30(4) Michigan Journal of International Law 1187.
13.
Dale Stephens, Cassandra Steer, “Conflicts in Space: International Humanitarian Law and Its Application to Space Warfare” (2015) 40 McGill Annals of Air and Space Law 1. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2722315.
14.
Ibid; Carlo Kopp, “The E-Bomb: a Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction” Proceedings of InfoWarCon V, Washington, DC, September 1996.
15.
Koplow (n.12).
16.
“Space debris is defined as all the inactive, manmade objects, including fragments, that are orbiting Earth or reentering the atmosphere” ESA, Space Operations-Space Debris: the ESA Approach (March 2017, ESA Production).
17.
Nato parliamentary assembly “The space domain and allied defense” (Defense and Security Committee, Draft Report - 068 DSCFC 17 E, 20 March 2017).
18.
General L.W. Lord, “Space Superiority” (2005) 1 High frontier 3.
19.
Earl D. Matthews (n.11).
20.
“Micrometeoroids are somewhat of a hazard to spacecraft, although substantially less than once imagined. Meteoroid collision events have occurred, but rarely. The two highly probable known cases consist of geostationary spacecraft hit by small objects, probably meteoroids. In one case, the European Space Agency’s Olympus satellite was lost as it consumed propellant in an attempt to recover. A Japanese satellite sustained a hit in one solar array, with the only result being a minor loss of power generation capacity.” M. D. Griffin, J. R. French Space Vehicle Design (2nd edn. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2004) pp. 90–93.
21.
Koplow (n.12) at 1200.
22.
Defense Technical Information Centre, AIR FORCE DOCTRINE DOCUMENT 2–2.1: COUNTERSPACE OPERATIONS (2004) available at https://fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/afdd2_2-1.pdf (last visited July 28, 2017).
23.
Steven Freeland, Jackson Maogoto, “Space weaponization and the United Nations Charter regime on force: a thick legal Fog or a receding Mist?” (2007) 41(4) The international Lawyer 1091.
24.
Defense Technical Information Centre (n.22) pp. 2–27.
25.
Nato parliamentary assembly (n.17) pp. 5–6.
26.
Art. IV Outer Space Treaty (n.1).
27.
Fabio tronchetti, Fundamentals of Space Law and Policy (Springer, 2013) at 9.
28.
Detlew Wolter, Common Security in Outer Space and International Law (UNIDIR 2005) [emphasis added].
29.
Art.2(4) of the United Nations Charter provides as follows: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” United Nations, Charter of the United Nations, 24 October 1945, 1 UNTS XVI.
30.
Ferreira-Snyman (n.6).
31.
Steven freeland, “In Heaven as on Earth? The International Law Regulation of the Military Use of Outer Space” (2011) 8 US-CHINA LAW REVIEW 272.
32.
Freeland, Maogoto (n.23); Pavle Kilibarda “The Militarization of Outer Space and Liability Convention” (2015) 40 (3) 271.
33.
UCS Satellite database available at http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/satellite-database#.WX4KsoSGPIU (last checked 29 July 2017).
34.
ESA, “Space debris by the numbers” available at http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers
35.
Koplow (n.12) at 1203.
36.
Freeland (n.31) at 277.

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Department of Law, Politics and International Studies, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Matteo Frigoli

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Matteo Frigoli
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European Space Policy Institute, Vienna, Austria
Annette Froehlich

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Frigoli, M. (2018). Wild Military Operations in Outer Space: A Sword of Damocles Hanging over the Future of Space Environment and Space Activities. In: Froehlich, A. (eds) A Fresh View on the Outer Space Treaty. Studies in Space Policy, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70434-0_5

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70434-0_5
Published: 22 December 2017
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70433-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70434-0
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