Militarization/Military Use Of Outer Space

Militarization of outer space refers to any military activity in outer space (whether hostile or not, or whether weapons-related or not) or any activity that supports military operations. Many argue that outer space has been militarized since the early days of space exploration, thus highlighting that military uses of space are not necessarily aggressive or hostile in nature, and therefore can be considered to be acceptable under the umbrella of peaceful purposes. It is generally understood that the concept of militarization of outer space must be distinguished from the concept of weaponization of outer space. This distinction, however, is not universally accepted, as a number of States argue that, due to the nature of space objects and the space environment, it is not possible to develop a meaningful definition of a space weapon. Moreover, it is important to note that there are languages which do not have a word for weaponization. In those instances, the word ‘militarization’ is often used to refer to both of these ideas, which can create further confusion.