Trump floats the idea of creating a 'Space Force' to fight wars in space

[TomVilmer]

45. Alarming gaps in international space law

The preamble of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 speaks of the desire of states to use outer space for peaceful purposes. This reference leads some lawyers to believe that the treaty in fact establishes a general prohibition on military activities in this domain, implying that the deployment of space weapons or ASATs is illegal.

In reality, the treaty does not include any legally binding provisions concerning the peaceful use of outer space. In fact, the reference to the peaceful use of space is not even included in the operational part of the treaty. Instead, it simply appears in the preamble as an objective.

The treaty was drafted by the two Cold War superpowers, during a highly tense period in which both nations had already made extensive use of outer space for military purposes through the deployment of reconnaissance or early-warning satellites. Consequently, neither state was willing to place legal restrictions on such activities.

The Outer Space Treaty only explicitly prohibits the militarization of the Moon and other celestial bodies, as well as the placement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in outer space. However, the prohibition of WMDs only applies to ‘placed’ and ‘stationed’ objects, or objects ‘installed’ on celestial bodies, meaning that transits carrying weapons would be allowed.

https://isnblog.ethz.ch/security/preventing-future-conflicts-in-outer-space