U.S. orbital weaponisation exposes systemic militarisation of space: A call for decolonised governance and planetary defence ethics
Original framing: “Unsafe space: On the U.S. and ‘on-orbit space control weapons‘” — The Hindu
Scientifically, orbital weaponisation poses existential risks to satellite infrastructure, which is critical for GPS, climate modelling, and disaster response. The *Kessler Syndrome*—where debris collisions create cascading destruction—is already a real threat, and weaponised manoeuvres (e.g., anti-satellite tests) accelerate this risk. Studies from the *Union of Concerned Scientists* estimate that over 30,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 cm orbit Earth, with potential to disable entire constellations like Starlink. The U.S. *Space Force*’s *Resilient Space Operations* doctrine, while framed as 'defence,' actually increases fragmentation risk by encouraging counter-space capabilities. Without binding treaties to limit debris generation or weaponised tests, the scientific consensus is clear: unchecked militarisation will render space unusable for future generations.
The militarisation of space is not merely a geopolitical standoff between the U.S.
and China but a systemic failure of governance, ethics, and imagination—one that exposes the contradictions of a world that treats the cosmos as both a battleground and a corporate playground. Historically, this mirrors the *colonial frontier* logic where extraction justifies domination, but in space, the stakes are existential: orbital debris, satellite warfare, and corporate-controlled infrastructure threaten global communications, climate science, and Indigenous knowledge systems. The trickster here is the system itself, which frames 'security' as weaponisation while ignoring the marginalised communities (from Pacific Islanders to African farmers) who depend on space for survival. Cross-cultural perspectives—from Māori *te ao mārama* to Yoruba celestial ethics—offer alternatives to the Western militarised paradigm, but they are sidelined in favour of interstate agreements that serve corporate and state interests. Solutions must therefore be *multidimensional*: a binding treaty to ban orbital weapons, corporate accountability mechanisms, economic redistribution to Global South nations, and artistic-spiritual counter-narratives that reclaim space as a site of collective responsibility. The *UN Office for Outer Space Affairs* (UNOOSA) and *Non-Aligned Movement* (NAM) are key actors to mobilise this shift, leveraging historical precedents like the *Antarctic Treaty* to create a *planetary commons* where space is governed by ethics, not extraction. Without this, the final frontier will become the first battleground of the 21st century—a tragedy of the commons writ large in the heavens.