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Space Wars

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the a-pax-on-all-your-houses dept.

There have been lots of interesting stories recently about the US's growing reliance on satellites to control gee-whiz weaponry and provide detailed real-time images to battlefield commanders. MSNBC has a story on the military's growing bandwidth crunch. The AP has a story about how many other nations are putting up their own spy and communications satellites, suggesting that the US edge in space imagery might disappear (unless we start shooting other satellites down, of course). And Bruce Sterling has a fun story in Wired (fun in writing style, not in its implications) suggesting that we're entering an age of Pax Americana, where the US military is so dominant that competitors exist only at our sufferance (though that might not stop people from trying).

3 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Shooting them down? I think there is a treaty.. by 0xB · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is some information on a treaty from 1983 which prohibits use of force against satellites and also prohibits using satellites to shoot at the earth.

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    0xB
  2. Well in Canada... by sfrenchie · · Score: 4, Informative
    the US edge in space imagery might disappear

    Ha! When I read that I couldn't help but chuckle... here in Canada it is a FACT that the US basically tells us whether we are allowed to launch a new satelitte or not.

    For example, when Canada wanted to launch the RADARSAT 3, which would give the Canadian military a resolution about 5 times LESS than the current estimated US imagery resolution, they had to bargain with the US gvt before launching.

    By the way, I am pretty confident that the US WOULD start "shooting other satellites down" if the need be.

    So in other words, Americans need not fear, as long as their mighty guns are near!

    --

    "The scientist describes what is; The engineer creates what never was." - Theodore von Karman
  3. Re:Pax Americana by rho · · Score: 4, Informative

    I might be worried, except the EU can barely operate cohesively now. Entropy always increases--they'll be squabbling like a bunch of horny teenage boys over a Playboy in 10 years (or less).

    The EU already has traitors in their midst economically. The end result of that debate will be quite interesting.

    If you want to get a look at what an EU military would look like, keep an eye on the UN's military endeavors.

    --
    Potato chips are a by-yourself food.