Controlling Access to Space for US Corporate Interests
The Vision for 2020 Report, by the United States Space Command begins with: "US Space Command - dominating the space dimensions of military operations to protect US interests and investments. Integrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities from across the full spectrum of conflict." The motto of the US Space Command is "the US must be the master of space." The slogan appears on the patch on their uniforms as well as over the entryway to the Space Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO.
In a 1989 book, Military Space Forces for the Next 50 Years, Congress said the US must control the pathway so we can control access for corporations, and governments. By dominating space, rather than being a global commons controlled by all the nations of the world, it will be controlled by the United States with tremendous profits for US corporations.
Dominating space militarily is about protecting the profits from mining the resources of outer space. Corporations are developing for the purpose of mining asteroids and the moon for platinum-group metals, which are rare on Earth but are extremely important in the manufacture of electronics and other high-tech goods. The potential is barely understood, the resources in just the inner solar system are nearly infinite compared with those on Earth. Just one large metallic asteroid such as 16 Psyche is thought to contain enough metals to last humans for millions of years at current consumption rates. The potential is massive. Planetary Resources has compiled a database-Asterank-of over 600,000 asteroids that might represent mining targets.
Issues in Science and Technology reports there are a wide variety of space resources "that include solar power beamed from space, minerals, metals, gases, rare earth elements, helium 3 (as a fuel for nuclear fusion power generation), and materials for space manufacturing (the fabrication of goods in space). Yet ordinary water is the focus of most serious near-term development efforts. Water, when split into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, provides the most efficient chemical rocket propellants known. Water is also necessary for human settlement."
The privatization of space travel is developing hand in glove with the militarization of space. Much of the research and development for space exploration has been paid for by the US taxpayer, but private corporations will profit. Issues in Science and Technology reports that government investment in mining infrastructure provides a tipping point to attract private investment. Space resources will be developed through public-private partnerships, which often means the taxpayer pays the costs while private corporations profit. They report that "in November 2018, NASA awarded nine Commercial Lunar Payload Services contracts to industry for the development of lunar transportation and delivery-related capabilities."
International governance is not keeping up with the economic development plans of the US and other nations. There is no international authority that provides an oversight function for the exploitation of space resources. Some countries including Russia and Belgium have urged the restriction of commercial development until such time as a binding international legal framework is developed. However, the US is moving forward with laws that create property rights for commercial development, and now is rushing forward with a space military force. New policies and laws, as well as international governance, are urgently needed, but the US is blocking progress in these areas while moving forward to dominate space.
What We Can Do
Bruce Gagnon of Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space told us on Clearing The FOG Radio that the Achilles Heel of this is the tremendous cost. The cost is so large that we cannot imagine the breadth of it. The Pentagon describes this as the largest industrial project in world history. One rocket launch costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
Gagnon tells us that Space News said the funding source for outer space weapons and development will be entitlement programs - Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as well as what remains of the safety net. Popular movements must demand funding for social needs, fixing environmental degradation and responding to the climate crisis instead of funding for space wars. Updating and expanding the Outer Space Treaty also needs to be an issue that is raised by movements as it will impact every issue we are working on.
Our goal must be that no country, corporation or individual can control the global commons of space. We must keep the bad seeds of war and environmental degradation for corporate profit out of space. To achieve these goals the people must educate and organize to challenge the profit interests of the aerospace industry, weapons industry and those who seek to profit from exploiting space resources. That will be the focus of the No War 2020 conference in Ottawa this May.
Resources:
Pax Americana Weaponization of Space, This movie was never allowed to be played in the US, but has been shown all over the world on television and theaters.
Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
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