The Role of Norms of Behavior in Preparing for a Normalized Space Domain

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Recently, there has been increasing talk of space becoming a "normalized" domain of human activities, and thus similar in nature to land, sea, and air domains. While some of the advocates of this normalization emphasize the potential for military conflict to extend into space, space is also becoming more globalized, commercial, transparent, and interdependent. These trends will result in increased benefits from space on Earth, but also several significant challenges that will need to be overcome. 

SWF Director of Program Planning Dr. Brian Weeden gave a presentation discussing these trends and their implications at the weekly Pentagon Joint Space Team meeting on August 16, 2017, in Washington, DC. Dr. Weeden's presentation focused on the need to enhance norms of responsible behavior in space to help manage the challenges from a normalized space domain, and outlined several initiatives SWF is involved in to help establish such norms. These include SWF's Handbook for New Actors in Space, participation in the United Nations discussions on guidelines for the long-term sustainability of space, and Dr. Weeden's participation in the MILAMOS Project on international law and military space activities.  

You can download a copy of Dr. Weeden's presentation here.