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Implementation of Space Over time, it has become evident that space is an important arena for the military activities and ambitions of the world powers. The idea of war in space has moved from the area of science fiction based assumptions to become part of arms control and arms race discussions.
Its estimated that about 75% of the total number of satellites in the earth’s orbit are mainly being used to carry out military activities like early warning, navigation, communication and surveillance. The great importance of satellites to the military has as a result stirred military planners to come up with anti- titillate systems.
Additionally, there have been extensive studies in different defense departments regarding the feasibility of different space based systems in being employed in attacking ground targets and disabling attacking strategic enemy missiles (Mother 5). These recent advances in technology and the incorporation of space capabilities in war fighting and security doctrines have transformed security perceptions and the nature of warfare, signaling the use of space as a new domain for leveraging superiority and competition.
Implementation of space simply refers to the use of space in support of air, sea and round operations; and involves building space based structures that support ground based infrastructure for military use like communication, early warning, control and command, timing and position navigation, remote sensing (monitoring), and National Technical Means that can be utilized for surveillance, verification purposes and intelligence purposes (Mother 3).
Implementation of space helps in enhancing control, communication and command, battlefield and strategic surveillance, together with weapons targeting. After the world war two, the main world powers started devoting a huge amount of their resources and know in evildoing rocket science and exploring space. The United States army acquired rocket scientists, rocket components and large amounts of scientific information and documents from countries like Germany, this highly promoted the formation of the American space program.
Similarly, Russia also brought in many scientists and experts and employed them in the development of their space capabilities. This brought about a military race for space domination that is still in progress to this very day. For a very long period, the Outer Space Treaty signed in 1967, has governed how countries approach space (Shall 1). Developed by the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and the United States, and currently endorsed by almost every country in the world, this critical agreement emphasizes on the use of space for peaceful purposes.
Regardless of this, space based technologies are highly militaries, with the United States depending on its Geographical positioning systems and space satellites for operations. However, it is very critical for the differentiation of implementation of space and the hyphenation of space, with the later referring to space weapons deployment (Barman and Sheehan 112). Very view countries are against the utilization of space for military systems discussed earlier (implementation of space).
The reality that some weapons like intercontinental ballistic weapons go through space is also accepted. However, most of the world countries officially oppose space hyphenation. They include key countries like China, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Egypt, there is great opposition to this idea is founded on the argument that space hyphenation has a great potential to provoke weapons proliferation and instability in space and on Earth.
Currently, space has not been weapons, this means that no paeans have been deployed terrestrially or in space for the purpose of attacking space objects like satellites; neither have satellites been deployed against terrestrially based targets. However, some countries, especially the United States, perceive implementation of space and space hyphenation as the future of control, dominance and successful fighting in wars, and are researching and developing military based space systems and weapons. Apart from USA, other countries are pushing for further exploitation of space for military purposes.
Military concerns are a major drive for the European Space Agency (Mother 96). Space implementation is a fact and can highly benefit many countries defense and also promote international security. The Gulf War in 1997 has played an important role in popularizing and displaying the significance of space based technologies in military campaigns. Although currently there are no weapons staged in space, there are a large number of parts of weapons systems with each having an important element in contemporary war fighting.
For instance, in a normal battle situation, the United States military depends on military communication satellites to communicate between troops and from command centers, space based weather prediction and SE of surveillance and espionage satellites to intercept enemy communications and gather images on weapon placement and troop movements (Wire 18). Other countries like China and Russia have developed early warning satellites to avail information concerning missile launches (Barman and Sheehan 73).
GAPS military satellites, on the other hand allow vehicles and troops to navigate accurately and quickly and also guide unmanned aerial vehicles and smart bombs. Its through implementation of space that anti aircraft and naturalistic missile defense systems can be developed, this is extremely critical for the national securities of countries. Ballistic missiles pose the greatest and most lethal attack especially when under the wrong hands, the directed energy weapons can be used to effectively intercept and destroy these kind of weapons (Shall 1).
This could be ground based lasers or space based lasers. Lasers are a chief constituent of this defense system against anti ballistic missiles. The huge optics demonstration experiment offers control of strong beams by handling extremely strong laser beams. Mirrors orbiting earth are placed at tactical positions in space and are used to reflect incoming lasers to targets that are at high altitudes. These particle beams applied in missile defense systems are used in space based environment since they are affected by the magnetic field on earth.
Communication satellites also constitute some critical space militaries systems. Sensors in space can be used to broadcast communications in a secure and safe manner. Currently, a country like America has 80% of its military based communication done through these satellites. This allows communication from top military commands to soldiers on the ground in secure and reliable condition. Accuracy has become a major factor in the delivery of a weapon; this is to ensure desired effect with minimal collateral damage.
Today, numerous systems utilize the navigation satellites to acquire the desired accuracy of bomb impact (Wire 18). After the amazing success of the United States GAPS satellites, all other advanced states are now establishing similar satellites. This does not only assist in acquiring the exact enemy location but also enhances weapon systems accuracy. Knowledge on weather changes and cloud formation is critical in the photography and imaging of military argues of interest and in bombing planning.
Additionally, information on direction and speed of the wind assist in entering accurate data before missile launch, enhancing and helping the accuracy of missiles (Wire 18). All these feats have been possible through implementation of space. Apart from the above mentioned benefits, implementation has the potential of revolutionize the defensive systems of different countries in the world. It has proven that it can not only useful in combat situations but also effective in safeguarding countries against missiles attacks from their enemies.