Star Wars may become a reality with weaponisation of space

The Ubyssey (University of British Columbia)
VANCOUVER (CUP) - Wade Huntley is the director of the Simons Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Research at the University of British Columbia. He researches the deployment of weapons in space.
He and a dozen students are the key minds behind the Space Security Index (SSI), a survey published annually by Project Ploughshares in Toronto.
"Lets say that you have a neighbour with all kinds of guns and he wants to do target practice in your backyard," he said. "You would want a legal system in place to stop him. Outer space is everybody's backyard."
The SSI aims to provide a survey of outer space, outlining how it can be used, and maintained for use, by all actors around the world.
Every year, the creation of the final document is overseen by a half dozen scholars and international experts on space security.
"The main purpose is to be a survey of the circumstances of all aspects of space security," Huntley said.
The SSI is used by decision-makers in government and industry, by researchers in universities and NGOs all over the world.
The legal status of space war defined in the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967. The treaty prohibits the deployment and testing of weapons of mass destructions in space.
Originally signed by the United States, Russia and Great Britain, 98 countries had signed the treaty by 2007.
Until now, the weaponisation of space has been minimal and talks were moving towards strengthening the OST.
But according to Huntley, the stability of the OST has been shaken up by recent activities in space, most notably an anti-satellite (ASAT) test conducted by China last January.
The test, in which China intentionally destroyed its own Fengyun-1C weather satellite, created thousands of pieces of space debris, and sparked an international uproar.
"It put more heat on China with respect to its own space deployment," said Huntley, adding that he expects the test to have a lasting, destabilizing effect on any international commitment to the non-weaponisation of space.
He said that in the immediate wake of the test, a decade of talks on strengthening the OST were scuttled.
Huntley believes that, following the Chinese precedent, the placement of weapons in space by the US and other powers is not far ahead.
"The most ominous scenario is one where the United States begins to deploy space-based strike weapons," he said, adding that while space-based missile defense is only the most obvious example, more exotic technology is in development.
According to Gyarmati, "the future truly depends on the decision making in the areas of foreign relations and space policy by the US".
Huntley is also examining developments in space technology that could be deployed as weapons. He is currently looking at space programs in middle-power countries such as Brazil, Israel and Canada.
"Minor countries are working hard and spending money so that they are able to become or remain relevant for whatever lays ahead in space," said Gyarmati.
Huntley also said that because development can take so long, it is important to look at current research to avoid a weaponised scenario in the future.
"At some point the political and technical momentum will be so strong that we won't be able to turn around the momentum towards the eventual weaponisation of space," he said. "And that's why there's very much a sense of urgency."
Huntley considers the weaponisation of space to be inevitable.
"An impending train wreck in slow motion, " he said. "We have to change the current trajectory.