Where in Physical Space Will the Space Force Be Focused?
Addressing the environment in the lower earth orbit in particular is most likely necessary to facilitate the smooth, legal and effective operation of key aspects of human activity in space.
With the spread of technology across countries, and the development of many countries’ space capabilities, besides being a military and commercial domain, there are of course also diplomatic, civilian (exploration and tourism), scientific (exploration and information) and other key aspects of the domain of space.
Protecting the Space Domain From Space Pirates, Hostile Nations and Rogue Elements
I recently wrote an article, Space Pirates Are a Problem, which presented information from a congressional hearing on space policy that reviewed issues that may be presented by space pirates and hostile or rogue nations.
Will the Focus of Space Force and Any Space Pirates’ Activity First Be in Low Earth Orbit?
With the expansion of the technological capabilities of humanity, we now have both the military element and the business elements becoming more active in the range of orbits of this planet. This includes their associated assets and information transmission and reception between assets and with the Earth.
This means physical and technical assets, human beings, communications and pathways of travel in need of protection. Proper function of activities in Earth’s orbits require:
- Safety of assets in orbit and passing through orbit,
- Clear ownership and honoring ownership of physical and technical assets,
- Protection and security of human beings present,
- Rules of use for assets in orbit,
- Access to pathways through orbit,
- Access to levels of orbit,
- Security of transmission and reception of information between assets, and
- Security of transmission and reception of information between assets and the Earth.
Initially, will most of space activity in the near term likely occur in lower earth orbit? This is the domain of most satellite activity, and the domain of new proposed global satellite networks.
Lower Earth Orbit is a Gateway
With many countries and companies working on new satellite networks, keeping the peace and maintaining competitive position both militarily and commercially will be key.
In addition, low earth orbit is the physical gateway to higher orbits around Earth (MEO, medium earth orbit, and HEO, high earth orbit).
Low earth orbit is also a physical gateway for exit routes to leave the planet, such as venturing outward for scientific exploration, or undertaking commercial activity like traveling to asteroids for mining activity.
Check out my other articles Space Force articles, here.
~ Susan at Solaris Modalis
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Article Notes:
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. All photographs and videos created by Solaris Modalis are not retouched or manipulated; color edits to images are specifically indicated if presented. Original publish date June 7, 2019. This article was originally published at https://solarismodalis.com/will-the-focus-of-space-force-first-be-in-low-earth-orbit.
