As much as we can have fun with this concept and joke about it, the potential for space pirates’ activity in the burgeoning space industry is already a problem.

This was confirmed at a Senate hearing in May, 2019.

Solaris News and Commentary: Space Pirates are a Problem

At the public space policy meeting on May 14, 2019, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, held a hearing on The Emerging Space Environment: Operational, Technical, and Policy Challenges, which included several prestigious guests who are experts in military and civilian American space policy.

The theme of this meeting was about coordinating policy efforts and activities between civilian and military groups.

At the hearing, he also spoke these words:

• Since the ancient Greeks first put to sea, nations have recognized the necessity of naval forces and maintaining a superior capability to protect water borne travel and commerce from bad actors.  Pirates threaten the open seas, and the same in possible in space.      ~ Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator on May 14, 2019

A Space Force is Necessary, Because… Pirates

After Senator Cruz made his introductory points, the head of NASA concurred with his sentiments.

Although Administrator Bridenstine did not detail the incidents, he did confirm  that advancing current commercial space development efforts have shown “that is not always safe”.

• We are in a place now, where NASA is working really hard to help advance and develop commerce in space, and ultimately what we are seeing, unfortunately, is that that is not always safe.      ~ Jim Bridenstine, Administrator, NASA on May 14, 2019

The implication here is that incidents have already occurred that show that protection of key American assets in space is at a critical juncture.

Space is a Military and Commercial Domain

American policy considers space as a domain. In military terms, this means a space, physical or non-physical, worth fighting for.

Per Merriam-Webster, a domain is:

1. A territory over which dominion is exercised, and
2. (Law) Complete and absolute ownership of land.

While domain has referred to land in law, it has been expanded expanded in military practice first to address any physical area requiring dominion for the safety and security of the country (land, sea, water); the concept was then extended to address the non-physical domain of cyber technology and now space, including the range of earth orbits.

As Senator Cruz said in his opening remarks:

• From efforts to foster the growth of the commercial space sector, to the return of American astronauts to the moon in the next few years, to the creation of a Space Force, the space domain is more active than ever.

Links: Will the Focus of Space Force First Be in Low Earth Orbit?

Where Is the Pirate Threat Coming From?

The threats of piracy is coming from advancing the extent of the space domain to fuller use by our military and commercial elements.

Senator Cruz explained the size of the opportunity during his comments at the policy meeting:

• By some estimates, the space sector will grow to nearly $3 trillion in value in the next three decades alone.”.      ~ Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator on May 14, 2019

I believe that Senator Cruz chose his words carefully, and he used the notion of space pirates to illustrate a point; that we are dealing with a lawless force and one out for purely self-serving gain.

• As the United States looks to foster the commercialization of space, return to the Moon, travel to Mars, and encourage burgeoning industries such as asteroid mining, in which a small asteroid could contain rare materials such as platinum worth billions, a Space Force may well prove necessary to help provide certainty in ensuring that these efforts are successful, have longevity, and are not to be subjected to the whims of rogue or hostile nations.      ~ Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator on May 14, 2019

This piracy element may or may not be represented by the recognized nations of the world, but by rogue or hostile elements within them, or by elements comprising an entirely new concept of what a nation really is.

Just as maritime non-state actors – also known as pirates – represent a threat on the open seas of the planet, space non-state actors are potentially a threat as well, and unknown instances have apparently proven this to key individuals in American commercial, military and government space efforts.

Check out my other articles Space Force articles, here.

~ Susan at Solaris Modalis

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Article Notes:

Featured image of a pirate in space is a free license images combination of photographs from Unsplash.com by Scott Umstatt and Nick Owuor.

Image of earth orbits is by Rrakanishu and is CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons license. This image has been altered by cropping it’s size smaller than the original image.

© 2019 Solaris Modalis. All Rights Reserved.  Permission is given to share this article on other blogs and websites as long as the text is posted in its entirety without alteration and with the accompanying photos, and with the author’s credit, copyright and live website links included in the article. Original publish date June 4, 2019. This article was originally published at https://solarismodalis.com/space-pirates-are-a-problem-call-space-force.

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