Advantage 3: Accidental War

Advantage 3: Accidental War

Threats posed by and to outer space Threats to space assets grow with our ever-increasing uses of outer space. At present, there are over 800 commercially used satellites in orbit.2 Orbital paths are further cluttered by deserted spacecraft, discarded rocket debris and other “space junk” shed from hardware. A piece of space debris, with an average impact speed of 36,000 kilometers per hour,3 could destroy a satellite. While a collision of two operating satellites is predictable (yet nonetheless worrisome), the overcrowding of orbital paths heightens the risk of radio frequency interference, causing harmful disruptions in communication. Beyond the severe economic repercussions resulting from disrupted commercial satellite communications, hostile actions in space can result in grave security threats, especially in times of war. Militaries rely on satellites for monitoring of and communication with troops on the ground. If a military satellite was deceived, disrupted, denied, degraded or destroyed, commanders lose their communication capabilities, resulting in mounting tensions and an escalation of conflict. A worst-case scenario could involve inadvertent use of nuclear weapons; without satellite-enabled monitoring capability in a time of tension, or, if early warning systems give a false reading of an attack, governments may resort to using nuclear weapons.

Advantage 5: Hubble Telescope Add-On

Space debris has recently increased dramatically at the altitude of the Hubble telescope, creating the possibility to block further space exploration.

Black and Butt 10 (Samuel and Yousaf, research associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center and staff scientist in the High-Energy Astrophysics Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics that is currently on leave at the National Academy of Sciences, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, The growing threat of space debris, March 2010, Vol. 66 Issue 2, p1-8, SP)

Unfortunately, existing efforts to prevent the creation of additional space debris are flawed in two important ways. First, destructive ASAT tests, each of which can create as much debris as is produced in decades of peaceful space operations, are addressed only tangentially by existing laws. Second, there is a lack of “rules of the road” for space. As more satellites populate orbits around Earth, the risk of collisions grows. For instance, on February 10, 2009, a satellite operated by the private company Iridium and a defunct Russian satellite collided, producing roughly 100,000 new pieces of debris larger than 1 centimeter in low Earth orbit, a region 200–2,000 kilometers above Earth’s surface that is already densely populated with both debris and active satellites. 11 It caused a roughly 70 percent increase in the amount of dangerous debris at 570 kilometers, the altitude of the Hubble telescope. Fortunately, most of the debris at lower altitudes will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere over the next decade.12

Space debris decreases quality of space observation.

United Nations 99 (United Nations, Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Space, Technical Report on Space Debris, 1999, http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/reports/ac105/AC105_720E.pdf, NG)

Astronomers are observing during wide field imaging an increasing number of trails per plate caused by space debris. These trails degrade the quality of the observation. Space debris trailing will entirely negate a photometric observation when debris cross the narrow photometric field

Advantage 6: Spin-Offs Add-On

Project ORION uses laser ablation to clean up space debris – laser ablation propulsion is a logical spin-off – this liberates NASA from the domination of cost as opposed to all other considerations.

Phipps et. al 10 (Claude, Photonic Associates, LLC, 200A Ojo de la Vaca Road, Santa Fe NM 87508, USA , Willy Bohn, Bohn Laser Consult, Weinberg Weg 43, Stuttgart, Germany , Thomas Lippert, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland , Akihiro Sasoh, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan , Wolfgang Schall, DLR Institute of Technical Physics, Stuttgart, Germany (retired) and John Sinko, Micro-Nano GCOE, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, International Symposium on High Power Laser Ablation 2010, A Review of Laser Ablation Propulsion, October 19 2010, http://materials.web.psi.ch/Publications/Publ_MatDev_files/2010/Claude_AIP_2010.pdf, SP)

Orion

Laser space debris removal uses a high-intensity pulsed laser beam to ablate (not pulverize) a fraction of the debris itself in an orientation such that the debris is slowed sufficiently to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. This system is discussed in detail in [22]. The way we send things to space from Earth is expensive, energy-inefficient and polluting. Present day costs of raising mass from the Earth’s surface into low Earth orbit (LEO) with chemical rockets is about $20,000/kg. This cost, equivalent to the cost of gold, dominates all other considerations relating to spaceflight, limiting what we consider to be possible. Phipps and Michaelis [6], using an innovative design for a high-power laser system appropriate for launching large payloads [43], showed that there is an optimum set of parameters for laser space propulsion which can reduce the cost of lifting mass to LEO nearly 100-fold [Figure 5]. Cost becomes $300/kg for five launches per day. At $300/kg, a spin around the Earth comes within a factor of three of the cost of a flight on the Concorde when it was still flying, adjusted for inflation.
Empirics prove - Econ collapse leads to war

O’Donnell 9 (Sean Squad Leader in the Marine Corps Reserve and is currently a graduate student at the University of Baltimore studying law and ethics, Examiner.com, Will this recession lead to World War III?, February 26, 2009, http://www.examiner.com/republican-in-baltimore/will-this-recession-lead-to-world-war-iii, MS)

One of the causes of World War I was the economic rivalry that existed between the nations of Europe. In the 19th century France and Great Britain became wealthy through colonialism and the control of foreign resources. This forced other up-and-coming nations (such as Germany) to be more competitive in world trade which led to rivalries and ultimately, to war. After the Great Depression ruined the economies of Europe in the 1930s, fascist movements arose to seek economic and social control. From there fanatics like Hitler and Mussolini took over Germany and Italy and led them both into World War II. With most of North America and Western Europe currently experiencing a recession, will competition for resources and economic rivalries with the Middle East, Asia, or South American cause another world war? Add in nuclear weapons and Islamic fundamentalism and things look even worse. Hopefully the economy gets better before it gets worse and the terrifying possibility of World War III is averted. However sometimes history repeats itself.

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