Curbing the star wars threat: a Russian view: Mikhail Lysenko outlines Russia's approach to preventing an arms race in outer space.

• Author: Lysenko, Mikhail

In October 1957, almost fifty years ago, the world was thrilled by the launch of the Sputnik--the first artificial orbital satellite. Since then outer space has revolutionised our perception of the world. Would it be possible to imagine our everyday lives without the Internet, world television channels and automatic banking machines? Outer space has completely transformed global scientific, economic, social, environmental and other developments. We witness there several trends.

One is the rapid expansion of the use of outer space. More than 130 countries now have space programmes or some involvement in such activities. Forty-three countries possess satellites, while 21 countries have national space agencies, and 67 are members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Russia, the United States and, more recently, China have each launched their own cosmonauts (astronauts or taikonauts) into orbit. Outer space has been visited by more than 400 people from 30 countries. More than 5700 satellites have been launched since 1957. There are currently about 700 functioning satellites in different orbits.

The steady growth of commercial activity in outer space is another trend. By the end of the 1990s revenues from the global space sector amounted to more than US$80 billion, and it is estimated that, by the year 2010, profits from space communications alone will reach USS 120 billion.

Another important development is the increase of unresolved practical, political and legal problems associated with the exploration of outer space. At the beginning of the 1960s experts identified 900 unsettled legal issues associated with outer space, many of which were resolved in subsequent multilateral treaties. But quite a lot of legal problems--including those of ownership, liability, environmental protection, distribution of orbit slots and radio frequencies--are still awaiting resolution.

There is mounting concern about orbiting debris. They are threatening to degrade the already fragile space environment. Both Russia and the United States are currently tracking more than 10,000 objects larger than 10 centimetres in diameter (although it should be noted that fragments as small as 1 centimetre in diameter can be deadly for almost any operational spacecraft). It has been reported that NASA has had to replace one or two Space Shuttle windows after each mission because of damage caused by very small pieces of debris. There are still no international agreements to address this issue.

Expanding use

Finally, there is the continuing tendency to expand the military use of outer space against the background of the tightening web of practical and legal problems. We are fortunate that outer space is currently free from weapons. However, we cannot disregard the fact that the scientific and technological capabilities of a number of countries have now approached a level which might enable them to implement in the near future military programmes for developing, testing and deploying weapons in outer space, amongst other things for 'star wars' missions. I will not comment in detail on such programmes, which are well known to experts. Let it be clear that, in Russia's view, the military use of outer space within legal parameters is not necessarily a negative phenomenon. For example, military satellites perform such important tasks as detecting the launching of ballistic missiles and monitoring compliance with arms control treaties. These activities make a positive contribution to strategic stability, transparency and predictability. Although such space systems have a military application, they are not designed to strike and attack anyone or anything, either in outer space or from outer space. They only perform information support tasks, more and more of which have civilian applications.

But what we are most of all concerned about is the prospect of the deployment of weapons in outer space. It will inevitably trigger a new international arms race. Once created, space weapons would become a new type of strategic armament. States that possess such arms would acquire a...