How long will the Outer Space Treaty last?

[m4v]

Warfare in space will not last, there's the Kessler syndrome you know.

[WestAir]

Space Warfare is practically impossible anyways. There's no way one orbiting body can target and hit another orbiting body if both have fuel and the capability to change trajectories almost instantaneously. As for invading a human settlement on Mars from an Earth-fairing nation - also impractical. Any civilization that leaves Earth will most likely be safe from the threat of war and invasion - at least from the "outside".

[jwenting]

The Soviet sat killers were not parked in orbit, thereby circumventing the outer space treaty (if a war broke out requiring their use we'd have worse things to worry about than that treaty).

Same with the weapons parts of SDI. The only systems permanently deployed in space would have been detectors and mirrors (which are technically not weapons, even if part of the weapons system).

Westair, space warfare is practical, under the assumption we're talking about the limited use of weapons in space as planetary defense.

Not talking about your classic SF scenario of fleets of space ships slugging it out in deep space, but weapons in orbit shooting down satellites and other spacecraft, or shooting down to the planet below.

Using energy weapons (lasers, particle beams) pretty much alleviates the problem of having to take hours lining up trajectories for intercepts too, of course you'd need bloody powerful generators and sensors to make those be effective.

At short ranges, or for planetary bombardment, just a load of shrapnel (research Brilliant Pebbles) will do nicely as well. Think a shotgun in space, with hypervelocity projectiles. http://missilethreat.com/defense-systems/brilliant-pebbles/

[m4v]

Is not practical, sure, it's in theory, but when you have the major powers of the world shooting each other satellites then you end polluting the LEO with so many debris that you can't use space safely anymore.

[jwenting]

remember these things were intended to be used during a major nuclear exchange. When that happens, you have bigger things to worry about than a few hundred ton of assorted scrap metal circling the planet at orbital velocities.

[Nibb31]

Not the poles; US tested devices over the Pacific and the USSR over Kazakhstan. But that was before the treaty.

Actually, many of the Russian nuclear tests (including the infamous Tsar Bomba) took place in Novaya Zemlya, which is north of the Arctic circle and only 1800 km from the North Pole.

I'm not completely sure, but didn't we (US), do a sub(?)-orbital nuclear test?

Operation Starfish Prime

Those were crazy times!

Edited June 27, 2013 by Nibb31