The Ethical Use of Outer Space - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 117

and bandwidth from commercial organisations operating communications and
reconnaissance satellites. Space planes and small (or micro) satellites have greater
manoeuvrability than other systems and could provide useful inspection and main-
tenance capabilities. However, microsatellites can be released into orbit and
approach other satellites discreetly, they are diffi cult to detect and, as with space
planes, they could support more aggressive activities such as interception and inter-
ference in space.
Dual-use systems are blurring the boundaries between military and commercial
space projects - making overall intentions more diffi cult to determine. Civilians
have become dependent on systems developed by the military (such as GPS) and
dual use is resulting in the militarisation of previously non-military institutions -
e.g. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Guardian of 11 October
2006 reported that America's civilian and military space programmes are converg-
ing and that NASA has already become an integral part of US Space Command.
Former NASA director, Sean O'Keefe, is quoted as saying that NASA was looking
forward to providing agency resources for the 'war on terror' and that from now on
all space missions had to be considered 'dual purpose', i.e. military and civilian.
As for the ESA, Article II of its Convention (ESA 2005 ) states that the purpose
of the Agency is 'to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes,
co-operation among European States in space research and technology and their
space applications'. However, a Commission of the European Communities Green
Paper on the ESA presented on the 21st of January 2003 declares that '… there are
many common features of civil and military space technologies, so that it is appro-
priate to combine resources in the most effective manner…' and a growing number
of ESA projects are dual use. The Copernicus Global Monitoring for Environment
and Security (GMES), a joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA, aims
at achieving a European capacity for Earth observation and assumes a fairly broad
defi nition of security. A number of military services are key elements for European
security, such as optical imaging, infrared and radar systems (observation and
reconnaissance) and information, command and control systems (satellite commu-
nication). There is also the Galileo military/civilian satellite navigation system
being built by the European Union (EU) and the European Space Agency (ESA), at
a cost of some 5 billion. The project aims to provide an independent, high-precision

positioning system for Europe. After 9-11, the United States opposed the Galileo
project and argued that it would end the ability of the Pentagon to shut down satel-
lite navigation when it thought necessary. However, in June 2004, an agreement was
signed between the United States and the EU whereby it was agreed that Galileo
would operate in a way that would allow it to coexist with GPS and the EU agreed
to address the 'mutual concerns related to the protection of allied and U.S. national
security capabilities'.
An example of how dual use can cause international confl ict is illustrated by
SvalSat , a satellite downlink station in Svalbard (a remote Norwegian archipelago
in the Arctic). SvalSat is one of the ground stations run by the Kongsberg Satellite
Service (KSAT), a commercial Norwegian company, 50% owned by the state.
The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 between Russia and Norway strictly forbids military

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