The rise of Space Commands
20/01/2023
There is nothing new under the sun
Many were surprised when the United States announced the creation of a Space Force as a separate branch of its army in 2019. The truth is that the concept is not new. The very first Space Force was created back in 1992 by Russia. But it had a short life, being reabsorbed into the airforces as a subbranch in 2015. That is why the United States is the only country today with an independent branch of the armed forces dedicated to military operations in outer space and space warfare.
That doesn’t mean the United Space is the only country with space warfare capabilities. China has the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force, which is also in charge of cyber and electronic warfare. Furthermore, there are at least ten more countries with space warfare capabilities, most of them being space commands integrated into their air forces. And these countries come from very different economic and geopolitical backgrounds. From consolidated midpowers like France to a heavily sanctioned country such as Iran . Even a country with airforces strictly aimed to self-defense, Japan, has a Space Operations Squadron. As so often happens, being at the forefront of defense developments is at the end of the day mostly a matter of political will.
NATO declared back in 2019 that Space was one of its military domains and has integrated space commands in its Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) and has created a Space Centre. Still, other space defense alliances are out there too. The Combined Space Operations Centre (CSpOC) is an initiative created in 2005 by the United States and the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to coordinate defense capabilities in Space. The group recently released its CSpO Vision 2031 together with France, Germany, and New Zealand, outlining the initiative’s guiding principles in regard to freedom of use of space, responsible and sustainable use of space, partnering while recognizing sovereignty, and upholding international law.
But when we think of space defense, we should not be thinking of spaceships shooting each other with laser beams aiming to conquer celestial bodies for their countries. Just as space agencies, space defense forces are very much linked to down-to-earth activities.
Assets in Space
The reason behind the proliferation of space defense capabilities is quite simple. The space economy reached a volume of USD 469B in 2021. National interests in defending economic assets placed in outer space are growing exponentially. Satellites providing data from the exosphere are proliferating, and weapons can take them down too. Why do you think Elon Musk is so interested in matters related to Ukraine and Taiwan rather than Iran or Venezuela? Because Russia and China have the capabilities to take down Starlink satellites. And that’s a real problem, as Elon Musk is providing critical support to Ukraine by delivering Internet connection. But Starlink is still a private company, not a country with NATO membership. And even though using military capabilities to take down a single Starlink satellite might not be economically viable, taking down a SpaceX rocket carrying sixty of them might be.
Western media has been criticising antisatellite tests carried out by Russia and China, accusing such activities as unsafe and hazardous for our exosphere. The United States has banned those tests since April 2022. They can certainly do that as the United States has already finished its antisatellite weapons tests. In fact, the United States was the first country to do those tests back in 1959, as a reply to the deployment of the first satellite, Sputnik, by the USSR in 1957.
France has taken a different approach. A few months after Donald Trump announced the creation of the United States Space Force, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a Space Command within the French Air Force. The French military currently operates a constellation of three Syracuse satellites that are primarily used for communication between the mainland and French troops deployed abroad. France will launch the next generation of these satellites with cameras that will be able to identify threats in space, such as anti-satellite weapons.
But after the new cameras are tried and tested, France will launch another generation of Syracuse satellites armed with either machine guns or lasers, making these satellites able to cripple or even destroy rival satellites. France might not be able to afford antisatellite weapons like those of the US, China, or Russia. But again, when there is a political will to protect assets in space, there is a way to do so.
Still, satellites are not the only assets in Space. As the aging International Space Station will be decommissioned during the next decade, a substitute will be needed. China has already solved that issue by having its own Space Station and by looking for international partnerships to make the most of it in regard to geopolitical leverage. NASA will be deploying project Artemis, a Space Station orbiting the Moon, during this decade. NASA is also commissioning private companies to provide one or even several private Space Stations to orbit the Earth. All of these Space Stations are scientific, but they are also technological and economic assets that need to be protected, just like the International Lunar Research Station (IRLS) planned to be deployed on the moon’s south pole by China and Russia in the 2030s.
The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, has announced a program to explore space-based manufacturing. The European Space Agency (ESA) is investigating if energy collected from outer space can be beamed to planet Earth. Outside the atmosphere, sunlight is available 24/7, it is 50% more intense and does not need infrastructure to cope with typhoons or earthquakes. Several organisations and space agencies have already looked into the idea. The prestigious California Technological Institute (Caltech) launched a demo unit of its Space Solar Power Project into space in January 2023.
As we can see, the list of vital assets placed in outer space has the potential to grow exponentially. Therefore defense activities in outer space will escalate at a matching rate.
Opportunities and challenges for Catalonia
As in many other places, the Space sector in Catalonia is small but flourishing. And even though the idea of creating a small space agency to coordinate space activities in Catalonia was received with mockery and disbelief, steps for the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia to play such role are already in place. Catalonia has space related infrastructure that needs to be taken care of, from the Lleida-Alguaire space port/rocket test centre, to the Montsec Observatory ground station tracking the activity of the two nano-satellites that the Catalan government has sponsored so far.
Certainly, being an autonomous nationality inside the kingdom of Spain does not allow Catalonia’s government to deploy defense capabilities of any kind. Still, the Catalan Government can use some tools that its current limited autonomous powers provide.
The Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia is in charge of implementing public cybersecurity policy and developing the Government of Catalonia’s cybersecurity strategy. Being in charge of cybersecurity entails overseeing the establishment and monitoring of cybersecurity action programs under the strategic direction of the Catalan Government, working jointly with its various public sector bodies. The Agency also collaborates closely with the Catalan local governments, the private sector, and civil society.
Data is the main force behind space activities at the moment. This data comes mostly from satellites providing us with images, geolocation, and internet access. That is why China has combined its Space Command with its Cybersecurity forces. It makes perfect sense for both economic and geopolitical reasons. Data taken from space can be stolen not just by rogue hackers looking for economic profit but also by rival countries aiming to gain political and military leverage. In the area of cybersecurity, is where precisely the Catalan Space sector can find opportunities and is a good way to create awareness on how data provided by satellites could be vulnerable to attacks.
Fortunately, it looks like the Catalan Government is already aware of the link between these technologies. Back in 2021, the Catalan Government created the Digital Catalonia Alliance (DCA), an initiative that gathers the main emerging technological sectors in the country. These sectors include the Internet of things, Drones, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security and New Space. The DCA has been announced by the Catalan Government as a place for public and private actors to meet and collaborate. Maybe it should also be the place to think about how the Catalan Space sector can protect the data they aim to provide.
Marçal Sanmartí is an Astropolitics Analyst and member of the Planetary Society.
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the CGI or its contributors. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the CGI concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers.
