Gp Capt Ajey Lele (Retd.) is Deputy Director General at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Click here for detailed profile.
Space technologies are critical to diverse human activities including communication, education, navigation, and remote sensing, meteorology disaster management and military. Naturally, keeping the space assets secure has become a major necessity for the states. Any damage to such assets would lead to excruciating consequences.
It is expected that the Syrian inventory could contain several thousand aerial bombs filled mostly with the chemical agent Sarin, and between 50 and 100 ballistic missile warheads.
Over the last few years, realizing the dangers of Chinese monopoly, countries like India, Japan and Vietnam have started collaborating in Rare Earth Elements, while North America countries are planning to increase investments in this sector.
A decision to conduct an ASAT test has to be a nuanced one considering the strategic advantages such a test could offer and the diplomatic elbow room that it would give during negotiations on a space arms control mechanism.
Ajey Lele argues that, in its present avatar, the International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities is not capable of realizing its stated aim fully because it lacks an accountability mechanism.
The EU’s Code of Conduct has been advertised as a mechanism to preserve the sustainability and security of space, but it is difficult to comprehend how a non-binding and voluntary mechanism could help achieve this.
There is an ongoing global competition to gain dominance in the space and cyber domains; while going it alone might be the best policy, collaboration with clearly laid out guidelines and end-goals is not without its benefits.
Without getting into any a debate about whether the satellite launch was actually a missile test or not, the US should make an offer to help North Korea launch a satellite in order to foster sustained engagement with Pyongyang
Robot now, Human Later: America’s Mars Dream
The US will undertake a manned mission to Mars to once again demonstrate its supremacy as well as to demonstrate the limitations of China’s rise.