* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: SpaceWar

Blobrana · L

The Japanese government has approved a new space law framework that could create a major structural change in its space program. The new law, which allows for the development of nonoffensive satellites designed to provide "national security," replaces a 1969 law that confined space development to strictly peaceful purposes.

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Blobrana · L

Japan's lower house authorised the use of outer space for defence purposes, signalling increased spending on rockets and satellites after China shot down a weather satellite in a military test last year.
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Blobrana · L

Japan's defence forces are to be allowed to operate in space for the first time as they try to counter military modernisation in North Korea and China.

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Blobrana · L

China is developing the ability to limit or prevent the use of satellites by potential adversaries during times of crisis, the Pentagon said Monday in a report to Congress.
The report, the latest in a series of annual assessments of China's military power, highlights developments in China's commercial space program and asserts that some can be of military use. And it says Chinese leaders have been silent on the question of a military motivation for their space programs.

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Blobrana · L

Russia's Foreign Minister has told delegates at UN disarmament talks that using weapons in space could undermine the world's military balance. Sergey Lavrov presented a draft treaty by Russia and China at the meeting in Geneva, which prevents states from sending weapons into orbit.

"The modern international space law does not prohibit deployment of weapons in space if they are not classified as weapons of mass destruction. However, such weapons if deployed in space would have a global reach, high deployment readiness, a capability for hidden engagement of space and earth objects, and the ability to render them inoperative. In contrast to weapons of mass destruction, such weapons would be fit for real use" - Sergey Lavrov.

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Blobrana · L

The use of space for military purposes could be the next goal for the government if it acts on a suggestion of the founder-chairman of the Society of Defence Technologists (SODET), C G K Nair. So far, India has concentrated its space activities mainly on civilian use and, as a result, excelled in areas like remote sensing and communication. It has an enviable record of producing launch vehicles for lifting satellites, which are beginning to commercialise now on an international scale.

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Blobrana · L

Post nuclear situation, India is being visited by a pre-nuclear weaponisation dilemmato be or not to be a space-weapons state. The territorial warfare is not a thing of the past yet, but once again the shadow of space weaponisation is looming large.
Post-Cold War the US became the sole superpower of the globe. The threat of "star wars" subsided for the time being. But new geo-political urgencies unnerved the US and it began to be concerned by the spectre of "space Pearl Harbour".

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Blobrana · L

Japan has for the first time shot down a ballistic missile, testing a defence system aimed at warding off potential missile threats from its neighbours.
A Japanese warship stationed off Hawaii launched a US-developed Standard-3 interceptor missile to destroy a mock target fired from onshore.

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Blobrana · L

Capt. Mineo Hirata and the 280 sailors on board the Japanese navy destroyer JS Kongo will attempt to shoot a ballistic missile out of space on Monday a first for Japan.
The joint Japan-U.S. test off Hawaii comes almost 10 years after North Korea launched a long-range missile that flew over Japanese territory and splashed into the Pacific Ocean, spurring an alarmed Tokyo to invest billions in missile defence.

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