From Star Wars to Space Wars - The Next Strategic Frontier: Paradigms to Anchor Space Security

Military blueprints by major space-faring powers now encapsulate concepts of 'space support' and 'force enhancement' which point to a central role of space assets in facilitating military operations while notions of 'space control' and 'force application' suggest the weaponization of space, and the putative view that space may in the near future be a theatre of military operations. As defence goals increasingly focus on space as the final frontier evident in development of national missile defence systems, anti-satellite weapons and other space-based systems, international peace and security faces a new challenge. Creators of the current legal regime for space failed to foresee the rapid rate at which technological and engineering breakthroughs would take place. Now the shortcomings in the current regime beg the question of how the law can keep up and address space technology. It is imperative that the international community act now rather than later. In light of the existing lacunae in the international space law regime, this Article seeks to explore avenues/paradigms through which the militarization of space may be regulated and its weaponization addressed.