Bullets from Heaven

In an earlier post, I warned about the next potential Space race--a race to establish a permanent military presence in Space--and now DefenseNews.com reports that the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has begun to move ahead openly with plans to do just that.

"Emerging threats round the world indicate the need for developing a space-based layer" of defensive systems, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, the MDA director, said April 11 at the 3rd Annual Missile Defense Conference in Washington. The agency would like to "maintain options for a space-based test bed" and... begin experiments by October 2006.

Contrary to popular belief, the Outer Space Treaty (OST) does not ban all weaponry in orbit. It specifically forbids any military use of other celestial bodies, and bans WMDs in orbit, but does not forbid other weapons in orbit. Not that this White House would give a fig for nonarmament treaties anyhow. The interesting question, though, is: if this is what they are willing to go public with now, what have they already done that we don't know about? And how about our enemies?

There are no provisions for verification in the OST, but if there were any treaty that could get by without them, it would be the OST. All you have to do is look up. Amateur astronomers could be the citizen's defense force of the 21st century. Still, there is a lot of sky to cover, and without a significant effort to search it, camouflaged (relatively dark) objects could remain hidden for years. Could this be why, despite many dire warnings of potential catastrophes, the US government has never funded a significant program to search for near-Earth asteroids? Conspiracy mongering? Probably... but then again, maybe not.

The truth is out there.