Image: US Department of Defense

Blog Editor’s Note: Last year the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) produced their “Space Threat Assessment, 2020,” upon which we reported.

This year they chose an intriguing Harry Potter theme. Quite appropriate. As Arthur C. Clarke famously once said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Quite a few interesting bits in the document, which we commend to your attention. 

To whet your appetite:

• The title of the first chapter is “Space is no sanctuary” – reinforces the point we were making in yesterday’s post
• Only one mention in one scenario that it would be good to have a ground-based GPS-like system (seems like that would always be a good thing!)
• The idea that one of the greatest threats to GPS role as a global utility could be other nation’s domestic laws and practices. The scenario:
  • The U.S. currently prohibits (but does not enforce, as far as we know) use of GLONASS and BeiDou within its territory.
  • China prohibits use of GPS within its territory, Exclusive Economic Zone, etc. It distributes jammers widely to ensure GPS use is not possible, but use of Bei Dou is.
  • China stops and penalizes ships in its waters for violating the prohibition on GPS use. Perhaps China could dissuade (or prevent) GPS use across large portions of the globe.

Interesting things to consider.

Defense Against the Dark Arts in Space – Protecting Space Systems from Counterspace Weapons