ROOM
33
Space Security
The landmark
space treaties
of 50 years
ago are now
relics of a past
world
Once Sputnik was launched, for several years,
objects launched into orbit were termed artificial
satellites, but today we simply know them as
satellites. And it is an appropriate term. They are
our servants, the servants of humanity, scurrying
about our planet, doing our bidding and serving
our needs, providing a wide range of very practical
and useful services.
There are three, primary satellite applications
today. Satellite telecommunications, remote
sensing and Precision Navigation and Timing
(PNT). The global space industry today is a
commercial market of over US$322 billion per
year [Satellite Industry Association ‘2016 State
of the Satellite Industry Report’, prepared by the
Tauri Group].
The satellite segment is $230 billion in annual
global revenue and continues to grow. Over
half of this ($123 billion) is made up of satellite
services, with ground equipment some $60 billion
(including GPS receivers), satellite manufacturing
some $15 billion, and the launch industry some $6
billion. Most of this represents the commercial
satellite telecommunications industry.
Today the number of operational satellites in
Earth orbits exceeds 1300. These orbits range
from the geostationary arc (35,786 km) down to
very low Earth orbits (~200 to 2000 km). About
half of these are telecommunications satellites,
25% are civil and military remote sensing and
weather satellites, and 8% are for navigation. The
rest are research and scientific platforms. Some
57 nation states operate at least one satellite, but
the vast majority of satellites are operated by the
major, spacefaring nations.
Satellite telecommunications is by far the
largest and most important of the three main
applications, and the largest commercial market.
It was Arthur C. Clarke who, back in 1945,
published his idea of three, equally spaced ‘radio
beacons’ in a stable, geostationary orbit, thus
providing near global and instant radio coverage.
Today we have hundreds of large and powerful
telecom satellites out in the ‘Clarke’ orbital plane,
broadcasting a never-ending stream of data,
broadcast, radio and TV. New constellations of
hundreds of small satellites in low Earth orbit
are being proposed as well. Our digital world is
connected by these orbital broadcasting systems.
Remote sensing satellites provide us with a
view back on our home planet, and are used for
a variety of purposes. Weather satellites, far out
in the Clarke geostationary arc, provide near
instantaneous warning of severe storms and
weather patterns. In lower, polar Sun-synchronous
orbits of some 500-800 km we have hundreds of
moderate and high resolution satellites constantly
mapping our planet, providing data on our
changing environment and applications as varied
as disaster response, urban planning, agriculture
and water resources.
Both passive and active radar satellites provide
us with the ability to map our world and our
impact upon it. Remote sensing also has vital
defence and military applications, and these
inherent dual use implications complicate the
international cooperation and regulatory aspects
of this vital capability.
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)
are a more recent technology but have quickly
An incvreasing
number of satellite
constellations in coming
years will need focused
and specific global
traffic magaement rules.
