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Ministry of External Affairs | Department of Space
The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) commentary, The Long Shadow of the Nuclear Age on Space Security Governance, examines how the historical foundations of space law were primarily designed to manage nuclear risks and how this legacy must evolve to meet modern challenges. The early legal architecture, including the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) and the Outer Space Treaty (1967), institutionalized the link between space stability and nuclear restraint, but the current environment is far more complex.
Modern challenges identified in the report include:
Entanglement and Fragility: Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) systems increasingly depend on dual-use satellites, creating pathways for inadvertent escalation where technical anomalies or cyber intrusions could be misperceived as hostile intent.
Space-Centric Vulnerabilities: The massive increase in active satellites (exceeding 13,000) and the rise of mega-constellations sharpen debris risks and resource competition, complicating access for emerging spacefaring states.
Deterrence Dilemmas: Proposals for space-based missile interceptors act more as threats to the space environment via debris hazards than as effective defense, while the dual-use nature of technology makes it difficult to ensure peaceful intent.
What is Entanglement in Space Security? It refers to the overlapping of nuclear and non-nuclear strategic systems, where the same satellite infrastructure supports both conventional military operations and nuclear command and control. This blurring of lines increases the risk that a non-nuclear attack on a satellite could be interpreted as a precursor to a nuclear strike, leading to rapid and unintended escalation.
Policy Relevance
For India, as a significant space power with a growing dependency on space-based assets for telecommunications, navigation, and defense, the report’s focus on Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) is highly pertinent. India’s policy of maintaining space for peaceful purposes must navigate the “asymmetry” and “inequality” highlighted in the report—where reliance on space assets differs among states—to ensure that global governance does not merely protect the strategic assets of major powers but also safeguards the civilian and developmental infrastructures of states in the Global South.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How can India leverage its leadership in the Global South to champion a space governance model that treats orbital sustainability as a collective resource rather than an extension of great-power nuclear deterrence?
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