Description
The space domain is becoming increasingly contested and securitised. Increased ASAT weapons testing in the last decade as well as development of counterspace capabilities by a variety of countries are contributing to increased tensions and suspicions about activities and goals among space-faring nations. This is what is contributing towards what some scholars have termed the “orbital security dilemma”, whereby states are taking measures to increase their own security in space operations, inadvertently threatening other space powers. This paper seeks to fill a scholarly gap in applying conventional theory to the space domain, and will consider whether exchanging space information, such as situational awareness data and other information on orbital activity, can increase trust and transparency between space-faring nations to help balance the security dilemma in space. It will consider whether transparency can be an effective tool in fostering cooperation under such a dilemma and will contemplate how such transparency may manifest. The paper will speak to ongoing debates about how a state could communicate a desire to establish or maintain a condition of strategic stability in space, and how we can apply and adapt traditional concepts in international relations to new strategic domains.
