Delta II rocket rises from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Photo Credit/USAF
The recently released National Security Space Policy outlines a strategy for greater U. S. global leadership in the uses of near-Earth space, a realm increasingly essential to America’s well being while at the same time growing increasingly congested, contested and competitive as more countries and private companies extend their reach off the planet’s surface.
An unclassified 21-page version of the policy document was made public on Feb. 5 by U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and James Clapper, the Obama Administration’s Director of National Intelligence.
The strategy points to the widely used U. S. Global Positioning Satellite System as a model for future international cooperation. Developed by the Pentagon, the GPS system offers positioning, navigation and timing services to commercial as well as government users throughout the world.
Potential new areas for U. S.-led shared capabilities include missile warning and the tracking of maritime traffic.
The new report opens with a sobering look at the current orbital arena.
A growing hazard from space debris ranks high on the list of concerns for the U. S. as well as other nations who rely on the use of satellites for Earth observations, communications and financial transactions. Each influences national security, the global economy and the response to natural disasters.
The Department of Defense now tracks 22,000 man-made objects in orbit, only 1,100 of which are active satellites. In addition, there are likely hundreds of thousands of small but lethal fast moving pieces of debris circling the Earth that pose a collision threat to healthy satellites. The total number of tracked objects stood at less than 10,000 in 2000 and at just 1,800 objects in 1970.
The sharp rise is due in great part to the 2009 collision between Russian Cosmos and U. S. commercial Iridium satellites and a 2007 Chinese Anti-Satellite weapons test. The two incidents unleashed an estimated 4,500 pieces of debris into Earth orbit that can be tracked.
The increase in orbital debris accompanied a rise in the number of countries operating spacecraft around the Earth. In 1970, the number was 10 nations. The total has now reached 60 countries.
At the same time, the U. S. is facing an economic challenge from the growing number of space capable nations. The U. S. share of annual revenue from space activities fell from 65 percent in 1997 to 57 percent in 2009. The 2009 U. S. share of those revenues, $7.7 billion, was just below its record high of $7.9 billion in 1998.
The strategic objectives outlined in the new report seek an improved stability of satellite operations, an enhanced U. S. national security advantage and a re-energized U. S. industrial base.
“We seek a safe space environment in which all can operate with minimal risk of accidents, breakups and purposeful interference,”
the report notes. “We seek a secure space environment in which responsible nations have access to space and the benefits of space operations without need to exercise their inherent right of self-defense.”
According to the report, the United States intends to lead “like-minded space-faring nations” to greater cooperation in satellite operations. However, the document makes it clear the U. S. intends to protect its space assets against potential aggressors.
“We believe it is in the interests of all space-faring nations to avoid hostilities in space,” the report states. “In spite of this, some actors may still believe counter space actions could provide military advantage. Our military and intelligence capabilities must be prepared to ‘fight through’ a degraded environment and defeat attacks targeted at our space systems and supporting infrastructure.”
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