Space Terrorists

More from The Space Review on why it's time to ditch or amend the Outer Space Treaty.

Though an interesting thought is brought up that I had never considered before:
Furthermore, there is the additional danger of terrorism. One of the lessons of the 9/11 attacks on the United States is that terrorist activity has become increasingly sophisticated and it stands to reason that, eventually, terrorist groups may gain the technical ability to affect US space-based assets or even use space itself as a launching point for their attacks. To that end, it is necessary to develop the means to impede that activity but that would require more military activity in space, something the res communis doctrine of the Outer Space Treaty discourages and eventually looks to eliminate.

It would be a damning thing for the Outer Space Treaty if the next terrorist attack would come from some sort of space based operation. The first thing the targeted nation would do, would be to tear up that treaty and start claiming regions in space as their own in order to better protect space assets. It may not be feasible now, but given a decade it could become a real possibility if space hotels start sprouting up.

Also what better target could there be for terrorists than a budging Space Tourism Industry? It could be very feasible for a terrorist to place a bomb on sub-orbital flight. Most crew complements of the first flights will be the wealthiest of society from all around the world... I'd be surprised if they didn't try.

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