Why Star Wars should remain a cinematic fantasy
As major powers race to build military services dedicated to space operations, it would be well to remember that, outside the movies, space war will involve little swashbuckling and much instant death.
Magazine
July 2019
In this special issue, top experts explore the possibility of controlling what is rapidly and ominously becoming an international arms race in space.
Features
The Outer Space Treaty and the weaponization of space
Can international law – specifically, amending the Outer Space Treaty – offer a way to avert what some consider the inevitability of space warfare.
Anti-satellite warfare and the case for an alternative draft treaty for space security
A two-step approach toward space arms control: the development and adoption of “anti-satellite test” guidelines, followed by a treaty on prohibiting destruction of orbiting objects.
Arms control in outer space: The Russian angle, and a possible way forward
The United States and Russia have an obvious common interest in strictly limiting anti-satellite systems that threaten early warning satellites.
The focus of US military efforts in outer space should be … arms control
Should the United States create a separate (i.e. sixth) military service, or elevate the mission now carried out by the US Air Force Space Command, making it into another unified combatant command?
A “Star Wars” sequel? The allure of directed energy for space weapons
Are new actors merely making the same Reagan-era mistakes again, in an updated setting?
What really went wrong at WIPP: An insider’s view of two accidents at the only US underground nuclear waste repository
A deep look at larger problems with the Energy Department and its contractors.
Marshall Shepherd: Connecting atmospheric science and society
Meteorologist and professor J. Marshall Shepherd talks about why climate literacy remains low in the United States, and how he tries to overcome climate misinformation.
The existential threat from cyber-enabled information warfare
Corruption of the information ecosystem poses the possibility of a global information dystopia, in which the pillars of modern democratic self-government are shattered
Chinese nuclear forces, 2019
China’s nuclear arsenal includes about 290 warheads for delivery by ballistic missiles and bombers and is likely to grow over the next decade,
What do Americans really think about conflict with nuclear North Korea? The answer is both reassuring and disturbing
A survey shows that a large hawkish minority lurks within the US public. It would likely support a nuclear attack on North Korea, even if it killed 1 million civilians
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