Conference on Space Militarization and Security.

After the Komm-1 incident showed us that space can be as militarized as our planet, we feel that a dedicated conference on the matter is needed.

The Imperial Scientific Institute will host it in Kahiv, at the Palace of One Thousand Wise Kerbs. Interested delegation can send private partecipation requests to our secretary.

Partecipants:

Fisnavavaada
RSE
Oxythura
Kahlawia
UKK
Segerline
HUENH
Kabundakan
Terripana

The conference will open his works the day 217.0.2 (OOC, tonight at 21.00 CET).

The delegates will be given the opportunity to give an initial declaration, in the following order:

1- UKK
2- Segerline
3- RSE
4- Kahlawia
5- HUENH
6- Kabundakan
7- Terripana
8- Fisnavavaada
9- Oxithura

We raccommend the delegates to not interrupt the speakers, and to reserve comments for the following discussion. This initial declaration wants to be an opportunity to take a position on the argument, not to start an hatred discussion.

"Thank you for allowing us to come here, as you know we have tested a weapon successfully on a satellite. The purpose of this was not to do harm, but to make sure that in the future if there is a threat in space we would be able to take it down. Space weapons should be allowed, but they should not be stored in space, and should only be allowed against military weapons in space, to take them down. That is our opinion. "

"Thank you for letting us come here. We see weapons in space as a very worrying development and that it defeats the beauty of exploration in space. How can we trust that weapons such as the UKK anti-satellite weapon will just target enemy weapons in space? With imperialistic nations owning weapons of pure offensive capability to take down satellites that not just the military of their potential enemies will be reliant on, but also the civilians on kerbin. Already as we speak, more and more Segerlinen are starting to use the communications satellites launched by the Kahlawians.

Tell me, if a nation who got these anti-satellites weapons by some chance happened to go to war with Kahlawia, and nations such as mine got reliant on the sats of Kahlawia. Then would those sats being taken down only be seen as a war declaration against Kahlawia, or would it also be a war declaration by everyone else who is reliant on those satellites?

Space weapons serves no purpose in our globalised world as they would not just harm the nation that owns the satellites that are being targeted. They would also harm those who use these satellites, yet are entirely neutral in the conflict.

We should also take note of the debris cloud that the UKK recklessly created with their new weapon. What if this debris cloud hits one of the satellites of another nation? Or worse, a manned capsule? Who will compensate for the lives lost, or the damage done to these satellites. Also, this would start a domino effect, where the even bigger debris cloud crashes into another satellites untill we have clogged several orbits around kerbin with dangerous satellite debris.

These weapons are too dangerous, and should not be used by anyone!"

Blessings of the Red Sun upon you all,

The topic of space militarization is a problematic one. If a nation decides to militarize, then peaceful nations will be at risk by their very stance of not having a response.

Still, an arms race in space is not desirable. Kinetic weapons are not of great concern to us as a general topic.  The fact is that any guided vehicle or probe could be employed as such. What is a concern is the debris caused.

As all of you know, even a grain of metallic debris can rip through a target like a bullet at high enough speeds. A dropped tool, the wrench that accidentally comes off it's tether in EVA, is equivalent to a bomb. It will shred stations not equipped with shielding.

So the first thing, is that we should agree to not intentionally scatter debris in orbits. Reasonable operations in a space mission excepted, as in upper stages for example. However, it would be preferable if missions were planned where all debris de-orbits within the near term.

.....

The second thing is nuclear weapons. These should not be allowed in space except, possibly, as mining explosives.  In any case, any nuclear weapon stationed in space should be controlled by an international consortium of space powers.

Further, it is our view that since no mining will occur in Kerbin orbit... all nuclear weapons should be banned from Kerbin space except when being transferred out for use in other parts of the system.

"We thank you for letting us come here. Indeed any debris in space may become a bad thing. We have experienced it ourselves, when trying to reactivate our probe, Horizen 1. It couldnt activate as the main core got struck with a small debris. Natural, or kerbal-made its unkonwn. But no matter which destination it comes from it is a very dangerous thing, that may ruin all high-budget missions. As for nuclear wepaons, we think that it shouldnt be detonated on any colonization-possible planet. The nuclear fallout it may leave can be dangerous, and the debris that will flow after the explosion is also dangerous, as said before. Therefore any big explosives should be banned. Smaller things, like TNT may be allowd, but under strict conditions of making sure there are no small stones left to orbit and cause problems. As for the space warfare, we think that one day in future it will be inevitable, but should be banned for now, as it may, as stated by segerlin delegate, cause unwanted damage. Therefore any space warfare should be banned, along with bigger explosives, and smaller should be under strict rules."

"We are happy to see all of you here, for this important meeting.

"The issue is not a trivial one. Starting to the undoubtable premise that space access is free for anyone, we demand yourself who gives the right to a single nation to possess the means to negate the usage and exploration of this whole new frontier to someone else?

"Space is to be free to explore for anyone, in name of all kerbkind. It's unthinkable of a single nation to claim rights on space, and to decide by itself what can fly up there, and what not. Space exploration is dangerous enough by itself, without the menace of death by the hand of some hostile nation.

"But said that, we are not naive: we know that a camera, flying a hundred kilometers over our heads, will reveal our enemies secrets that will potentially harm us, but still, there are ways of jamming and rusing them from the ground, without the need of potentially lethal weapons.

"On the Kyuxian test, we must note that the cloud debris, poses a serious threat to the satellites and crewed vehicles in orbit, as do the numerous spent upper stages and deactivated probes that are starting to pollute the near space. We feel that, when possible, space missions should leave zero debris behind, and that orbital insertions of spacecrafts should be performed under a certain orbital height, so to keep the dangerous objects left behind by space missions confined under a known altitude."

Many nations seem to have a very fuzzy vague concept of the possibilities of outer space; they see at it as 'only for exploration', as if being 70km up is enough to bring it out of the normal sphere of kerbal existence. It is not. Outer space has already been used for tangible economic, social and, yes, military gain; and this utilisation is likely to massively increase over the coming decades.

Spacecraft are soon going to be major military assets of many nations; and in the event of war any military asset will be targeted. Attempting to stop this will simply push development and testing into the background, and prevent us from regulating it in order to reduce impact on civilians and future use of space.

Two people enter the building in Terripanan Military Dress an sit at their allocated seats. "We have nothing to say right now. We're simply here to report the outcomes of the meeting back to Terripana."

"Like everyone else has said, thank you for letting us attend today. Space weapons are a clear possibility in the world. As such, we'll make this brief to get to the real discussion. Our concerns lie not with nukes in space, or asat weapons, but with the aftermath. Debris will eventually become an issue, space combat or not. Our other concern is that these weapons not be used against items that are intended for a scientific use, like comsats or space stations, things.that would cause a huge incident. Also, we have questions of our own about the things nations launch into space. What territorial protections are we giving those? What ground-based object can we use to compare a satellite to? Hopefully all will be addressed.

-Reserved-

"Since we have all stated our positions, let's start the discussion. We have found the Kabundakan declaration interesting. We agree that pushing development in the background is against our interests, but it's not like this happens openly now. The kyuxian test is a clear example. If it was better planned, we would never known of it being a proper space weapon test."

"Depends on the intelligence and cunning of the planner; we've seen some stupid plans from the Fisnavavaadian Air Force."

Director of Oxuytharian Space Projects, Adim Zeofly, opens up International Communications systems on the NORC supercomputer. The radio system contacts Kahiv, and is redirected to the conference room. "Greetings, my fellow delegates. I am sorry that I cannot be there. My aircraft just landed. However, I believe that IntComm should work for these purposes. You may continue."

Such a weapon as used in Kyuxian test has major flaws; it requires active control, will fail against a satellite with almost any form of countermeasure, is expensive, and can easily miss. More useful anti-satellite weapons would be much harder to hide.