IN-DEPTH BRIEFING // #59 // JULY 23
SPACE AGE SURVEILLANCE AND ITS IMPACT ON DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE
AUTHOR Rachael Power Satellite Imagery Analyst, MA War Studies, King’s College London
The Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research is the British Army’s think tank and tasked with enhancing the conceptual component of its fighting power. The views expressed in this In Depth Briefing are those of the author, and not of the CHACR, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Ministry of Defence or the British Army. The aim of the briefing is to provide a neutral platform for external researchers and experts to offer their views on critical issues. This document cannot be reproduced or used in part or whole without the permission of the CHACR. www.chacr.org.uk
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RIVATE and public investment in spacebased assets has sky-rocketed over the last decade, with the explosion in enterprises spawning a new extraterrestrial expression. ‘Astropolitics’1 – which refers to the projection of international commercial, political and military power in space – is, however, merely a modern moniker for a competition that began in earnest during the Cold War. The American and Russian space race was hard fought but fruitful, propelling to maturity the technologies that made the International Space Station and the US’ global positioning system possible. One major difference between the past and present is the number of runners competing. Today, two have become ‘many’ with Elon Musk’s Space-X programme, the revving up of a joint ToyotaJapanese space agency lunar rover
and the proliferation of hightech satellite launches by private providers, to include Planet and Black Sky.2 The pace is picking up developmental momentum with advances in satellite Earth observation technologies. For those in the business of security and defence, this is an exciting era. Recent evolutions in the tech on-board orbiting satellites are making intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities almost ubiquitous. Indeed, near-Earth and outerorbit constellations, with satellites ranging from Rubik’s-sized ‘CubeSats’ to 2,800kg, bus-sized behemoths carrying hyperspectral and synthetic aperture radar sensors, are everywhere.3 The sheer number of satellites in orbit and the advanced observation functionalities they are equipped with can benefit everything from an Atomic Energy Agency nuclear inspection in North Korea to military
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unmanned aerial system missions. Satellite Earth observation is changing the security space game. GAME-CHANGING SENSORS Earth observation instruments aboard new-generation satellites are turning out powerful intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance products for commercial, civil government and military organisations. In early 2000 there was only one satellite in orbit equipped with the electro-optical sensors capable of sampling distances of two metres or less. By 2015, that number 1 First coined by Dr. Everett Dolman in his ‘Astropolitik.’ He, Qisong. “China-Russia Technology Cooperation in Space: Mutually Needed or Mutually Exclusive?” Pacific review 36, no. 4 (2023): 897–926. 2 edition.cnn.com/2019/03/13/business/ toyota-moon-rover-japan/index.html 3 These are commonly referred to as ‘Nanosats’ and ‘CubeSats.’ See euroconsult-ec.com/pressrelease/one-ton-of-smallsats-to-be-launchedper-day-on-average-over-the-next-decade-yetchallenges-remain