Enhancing Space Security
UCS advocates policies that will ensure the peaceful and sustainable use of space by all nations. An increasing number of countries have satellites, and space is becoming more crowded. At the same time, it is in danger of being weaponized. International discussions are necessary to establish a framework of laws and guidelines to accommodate more states with interests and satellites in space while avoiding conflicts.
The United States should help start such discussions and play a leading role in diplomatic efforts to develop international agreements on the use of space. These should include rules to manage space traffic and a code of conduct that guides operations in space, guidelines to allocate limited resources equitably, and procedures to diffuse tensions and resolve disputes.
We seek strong international measures to outlaw actions that would damage or destroy satellites, as well as the testing and deployment of systems intended to do so. The United States should state its opposition to the development, testing, or deployment of weapons in space or weapons that could be used to damage or destroy satellites, and its intention not to fund such activities. The United States should press for binding measures to strictly limit the production of space debris, which can disable or destroy satellites, by either civil or military actions.
The United States should also work to make its satellites less attractive targets by, for example, putting in place earth- and air-based backup systems for capabilities currently based on satellites, making individual satellites and satellite systems more resistant to attacks, and building redundancy into important systems.
In particular, the United States should:
- Provide no funding for weapons in space, including missile defense interceptors and anti-satellite weapons, or for destructive ground-based anti-satellite weapons.
- Provide no funding for the space-based missile defense test bed, which represents a first step toward placing weapons in space.
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