How far has the militarization of space progressed?

Hwang Jeongeun

Last year, after successfully launching its Nuri rocket, South Korea became the 7th country capable of independently launching a satellite. The media and public celebrated South Korea joining the “Space Power G7.” Most recently, on April 8th, it launched another reconnaissance satellite. Going forward, the government plans to create a cluster to foster the space industry, which it considers a future growth driver: Jeonnam Province will focus on launch vehicles; Gyeongnam Province, on satellites; and Daejeon, on research and human resources. Furthermore, the private defense company Hanwha Systems will build a space center in Jeju Island for developing, manufacturing, and testing satellites. Additionally, the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) was established on May 27th. 

Yet, closer inspection will challenge the view of the space program as simply an enhancement of national competitiveness or an expansion into new markets. After all, the space program will also be used to launch satellites for military reconnaissance, which fuels a regional arms race and escalates military tensions. In 2025, the South Korean government plans to launch five more reconnaissance satellites (in response to North Korea’s planned launch of three reconnaissance satellites this year) under the “425 project.” By 2030, it will have launched 30 reconnaissance satellites as part of its “Kill Chain” system to preemptively strike an enemy launch site within 30 minutes of detection. Furthermore, on April 24, the South Korean Air Force Operations Command's Space Operations Squadron and the U.S. Space Forces Korea formed the “'Korea-U.S. Combined Space Operations Team”' and participated in their first joint exercise, which included jamming attacks to disrupt GPS systems, and discussed how to utilize South Korea's military reconnaissance satellites. 

This February, South Korean activists and citizen groups opposing space militarization and rocket launches (including opposition to Hanwha Systems’ space center at Jeju Island) invited Bruce Gagnon, a 40-year peace activist, for a nationwide lecture tour.  Gagnon highlighted the United States aims to dominate space military power. However, with a national debt of $34 trillion, the U.S. is forced to rely on its allies to support what amounts to the largest industrial project in history.

The space program has been military-driven from its inception after World War II when the US’s Operation Paperclip secretly brought in Nazi scientists, engineers, and V2 rockets. In the 1997 "Vision for 2020," the U.S. Space Command outlined the goal of controlling and dominating space to achieve global dominance. This vision was detailed in the 1998 "Long Range Plan" document, which established the goals of enhancing U.S. space dominance, monitoring and intervening in global situations, increasing integration between the Space Force and other military branches, and strengthening the military use of civilian space technologies. In 2020, the Trump administration established the Space Force. Additionally, the U.S. is developing space weapons programs. The X-37 military space plane (currently being tested by the U.S. Air Force) can orbit the earth for over a year and is being developed to conduct reconnaissance and launch missiles against ground targets. In addition, it plans to arm satellites with lasers that can strike ground targets and other satellites.

The use of satellites for communication, reconnaissance, and drones has made the space industry critical in the military. For instance, since 2022, the Ukrainian military has used Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service to conduct drone attacks on Russian military equipment. Additionally, Israel uses satellites to attack Palestine with drones. The competition to launch military reconnaissance satellites for monitoring enemy missile launch sites and military facilities is also intensifying. Yet the existing regulatory mechanisms are inadequate: the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons in space and mandates the peaceful use of the moon and other celestial bodies, but does nothing about other types of space weapons; the 1979 Moon Treaty prohibits the ownership of lunar resources but has not been ratified by the United States.

Diagram of Space Debris (Source: Dong-A Science)

Additionally, space pollution has also become a problem. As of April 2023, 18,997 pieces of space debris orbit the Earth. This debris includes spent rocket stages, defunct satellites, and other fragments from various space activities. The increasing number of satellite launches raises the likelihood of collisions between debris and active satellites. Such collisions would generate even more debris, which could significantly increase the risk of further collisions and potentially disrupt the satellites we rely on for communication, navigation, weather forecasting, and other essential services. Gagnon emphasizes that both the environmental and peace movements need to address the broader implications of space militarization, as it poses a threat not only to global security but also to the sustainability of space and environment.