Hidden Nook
"Because in Cyberspace, no one can hear you scream."
Friday, May 20, 2005
Scientists Against Weaponizing Space
[Media Source*]
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A scientists' group on Thursday warned the United States against weaponizing space, saying the move would be prohibitively expensive and could set off a new arms race.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a watchdog group that opposes weapons in space, said the United Nations should consider drafting a treaty that would prohibit interfering with unarmed satellites, taking away any justification for putting weapons in space to protect them.
Although their intentions are "noble," as these scientists are trying to deter an arms race in space (whether to strike targets above or below) such a suggestion is foolish in a post 9/11 world. Although storing nuclear weapons in space would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (which prohibits weapons of mass destruction being stationed in outer space), having satellite's deployed with "anti-missile" rockets (what else would you call it?) providing a "shield" would probably be reasonable.
Fortunately for the scientists, this technology is currently too expensive for the government to pursue.
Any complete weapons system in space would be very expensive, running into the many billions of dollars. Developing a shield to defend against a single missile attack would require deploying 1,000 space-based interceptors and cost anywhere between $20 billion and $100 billion, said David Wright, a union scientists and co-author of a recent report on the feasibility of space weapons...
Wright argued that space-based ground attack systems were not yet practical either. One, dubbed "Rods from God'' -- which would fire rods of tungsten from space -- would cost 50-100 times as much as a similar attack from the ground.
Although developing a program is currently not feasable due to cost, that may change in the future if the Pentagon along with NASA team up and subcontract the work towards the private sector. America's priority is it's security (just like any sovereign nation) and if push comes to shove should not hesitate to "weaponize space."
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Hey, yeah, I'm pretty fine:) , just some tornadoes in mind! ;)
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