SpaceX’s livestream of “Starman” in space
The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
With private companies like SpaceX on the brink of being able to provide reliable space travel, the fantasy of exploring the vast cosmos beyond the Moon has grown closer to reality. We approach a new age of extraterrestrial exploration and development—from building science stations on celestial bodies and mining minerals to populating space colonies.
While Elon Musk might build the rockets that make space commerce technologically feasible, this upcoming era presents fundamental legal and diplomatic questions about the governance of space.
In August of 2019, NASA astronaut Anne McClain was accused of committing the first ever “space crime” after accessing her estranged wife’s bank account while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A current agreement among ISS partner nations allows the United States to have legal jurisdiction over this situation. However a much more robust and complex legal system that addresses the rights of private individuals and businesses must be developed before industries like tourism and resource mining can take to the stars with confidence.
As much of American history proves, free markets and competitive enterprise result in the fastest, most extensive economic growth, exploration, and technological development. With adversaries like Russia and China beginning to use space to gain military advantages over the U.S., the development of civilization in this new frontier is at risk.
According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, China views space superiority as integral to information dominance in warfare—controlling the flow of information and sabotaging the information systems of enemies using lasers and jamming technologies to keep rival nations weak. Russia, on the other hand, apparently focuses on counterspace operations, seeing a reliance on space as the United States’ “Achilles’ heel.”
With these potential threats, it is up to the United States to maintain a dominant, unassailable presence in space, ensuring that the final frontier becomes a place where civilization can prosper.
President Trump is on the right track with the reestablishment of the National Space Council to develop legal policies for commercialization and security, and the establishment of the Space Force as the “sixth branch” of the armed forces.
The United States, Russia, and China have all ratified the United Nations’ 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits “the establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies.” However, such broad promises of peace rarely work. Unsurprisingly, Russia and China are making large-scale military investments in space and counterspace operations in the current absence of a method to either check other countries’ activities or enforce the treaty.
The “peace through strength” philosophy behind the Space Force initiative is the most effective way to deter foreign governments from taking advantage of the lack of competition.
The most intriguing part of space exploration and cosmic commerce isn’t Elon Musk’s reigniting engines or minerals deposited within asteroids but the political and legal infrastructure that could spell success or failure.
Perhaps we’ve become more civilized than our ancestors, who dangerously colonized new land and waged tragic wars over territorial rights. If so, America has a responsibility to be the leader in this regard, maintaining peace and freedom in outer space as mankind ushers in a promising new age.
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