Disgrace Into Space - analysis of commercial and military use of outer space - Statistical Data Included

Ecologist, The, March, 2001 by Karl Grossman

Space is being opened for business -- the war business and commercial business. Will humanity be able to prevent the armed conflict and rampant greed that has marked human history on Earth from extending into the heavens?

Even before man first stepped on the moon, the human race was putting together its plans for the ownership of space. The United Nations General Assembly's Outer Space Treaty, which became effective in 1967, was a giant leap in the race into space. Now ratified by most of the nations of the world, it is the basic international law on the mapped and unmapped areas beyond our planet.

'Inspired by the great prospects opening up before mankind as a result of man's entry into outer space,' declares the preamble to the Outer Space Treaty (OST), 'recognising the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,' the treaty goes on to state that 'outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation' and it seeks to exclude war from space.

The trouble with agreements, however, is that there's always someone who wants to move beyond them. Consequently, on 20 November 2000, 163 nations voted in the UN General Assembly for 'reaffirming' the Outer Space Treaty and specifically its provision that space be set aside for peaceful uses. Their reason? The US is ramping up its own plans for the military domination of space.

The US military wants to 'control space' and 'dominate' the Earth below as explicitly stated in documents of the US Space Command and its components. The

US Space Command 'coordinates the use of Army, Naval and Air Force Space Forces' and was set up in 1985, its website explains, to 'help institutionalize the use of space'. US military documents now refer to space as the 'ultimate high ground'. Huge amounts of money have been put into programmes for space warfare including development of space-based laser weapons. One new US programme is the 'Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment' with a 'lifecycle budget' of $20 to 530 billion. One space-based laser already undergoing tests is the Alpha high-energy laser which was reported to have had its 22nd successful test firing last April.

With George W Bush as president and Richard Cheney as vice-president, the US has a national administration committed to expanding US space military activities even further. It is insisting on prompt deployment of a missile-defence system which US military documents describe as one 'layer' in an overall space military programme.

What was dubbed 'Star Wars' after being unveiled by US President Ronald Reagan in 1983 has never gone away. With its enormously powerful complex of corporate and political backers -- and avid sup port of the US military -- it developed a momentum of its own. With the assumption of power by the Bush-Cheney administration, it has received a big boost. As The Washington Post noted upon the Bush selection of Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary, the new Pentagon chief is the 'leading proponent not only of national missile defenses, but also of US efforts to take control of space'.

To reinforce and advance the OST, in 1979 the Moon Agreement -- its full title: Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies -- was adopted at the UN. It restates that space be set aside 'for peaceful purposes' and begins what would be regulation of commercial uses of space. It declares 'the moon and its natural resources' as 'the common heritage of mankind', and states: 'Neither the surface nor the subsurface of the moon...shall become property of any state...organisation...or...person.'

But only 14 nations have signed on to the Moon Agreement -- and not the US or Russia or other nations currently considered 'space-capable'. A main reason? 'The attitude is "we don't want to share",' explains Janet Michelle Cuevas, a specialist in space law and UN representative of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power In Space.

Meanwhile, commercial space ventures are increasing and getting rather wild.

When a Russian Proton rocket, for example, lifted off carrying a module for the International Space Station last July, it was emblazoned with a giant Pizza Hut logo. 'Our sponsorship of this critical mission tells consumers around the world that we're always looking to take Pizza Hut innovation to new heights,' said Pizza Hut president Mike Rawlings. Pizza Hut, with 11,100 stores on Earth, also plans to provide pizza pies for the station's crew.

Virginia-based LunaCorp intends to land robotic vehicles on the moon beginning in 2003 for missions 'funded by corporate sponsors, exclusive television contracts' among other sources. RadioShack has become the 'first corporate sponsor,' says Luna Corp, of these rovers that 'will prospect for water and prepare the way for human settlements'.

Even more alarmingly, Colorado-based SpaceDev -- 'the world's first publicly traded commercial space exploration and development company' -- plans to dispatch a device it calls a 'Near Earth Asteroid Prospector' within the 'next three to five years' to Nereus, an asteroid believed rich in minerals. SpaceDev wants to declare Nereus private property and stake a claim to mining rights -- despite the OST and Moon Agreement.