Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2005 APS April Meeting
Saturday–Tuesday, April 16–19, 2005; Tampa, FL
Session B6: Space Weaponization and Missile Defense |
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Sponsoring Units: FPS Chair: Benn Tannenbaum, American Association for the Advancement of Science Room: Marriott Tampa Waterside Grand Salon I/J |
Saturday, April 16, 2005 10:45AM - 11:21AM |
B6.00001: What Should Space Be Used For? Physical and Political Guidelines Invited Speaker: Space has long been important to the commercial, civil scientific, and military sectors, serving essential missions like communications, environmental monitoring and astronomical research, early warning of missile attack, and precision navigation. However, rhetoric, official planning documents, and funded military research programs show that the current administration has a vision for space that significantly departs from long-held norms. This new vision includes four additional missions for satellites: 1) ballistic missile defense, 2) attacking targets on the ground 3) protecting other satellites, and 4) denying other users the ability to operate in space. Such a dramatic change deserves a thorough vetting. The discussion can be organized into three main types of issues: The first are international and strategic issues, such as how space weaponization may affect national and international security and stability; and, in space, what are the roles of weapons versus treaties and cooperation? Second: how useful would space actually be for these four proposed military missions? The laws of physics and the current state of technology will strongly limit what orbiting craft can do. And third: how may these new uses of space affect other current and future users of space? And what are the proper guidelines for the equitable use and longterm stewardship of space? [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2005 11:21AM - 11:57AM |
B6.00002: The FAS Advisory Committee Report on Weapons in Space Invited Speaker: The main conclusions of a report on weapons in space by an advisory panel established by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) are presented and discussed. These conclusions result from an examination of the vulnerabilities of U.S. space-based assets and ways of addressing them via the deployment of orbital weapons and alternatives to such weapons. The bottom line is that, at least for the next five years, there is no compelling national security justification for the United States to put weapons in space. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 16, 2005 11:57AM - 12:33PM |
B6.00003: Missile Defense and Space: What's Changed? What Hasn't? Invited Speaker: In late 2004, the Bush Administration appeared to be eager to declare a nascent operational capability at its deployment sites in Alaska and California. In early December a flight intercept test failed, as had the previous test two years earlier. By the time of the inauguration, the Administration appeared to be backing away from a formal declaration of operational capability. Where does the system stand today? What has happened in important flight tests in more recent months? What has happened to the budgets for missile defense? What has happened with boost-phase missile defense, with Patriot, with the Airborne Laser, and other missile defense programs? And how have recent programmatic and budgetary changes affected the likelihood that missile defense will be the first U.S. military program to place strike weapons in space? Philip Coyle, Senior Advisor with the Center for Defense Information and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Test and Evaluation, will review the latest developments and describe from a technical, programmatic, and policy point of view, ``What's Changed? and What Hasn't?" [Preview Abstract] |
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