🌍 Weaponising the Final Frontier: Why the "Golden Dome" Project Raises Global Alarm

In the age of rapid technological advancements, space is no longer just a domain for exploration and communication—it’s increasingly being viewed as the next battlefield.

The recently unveiled “Golden Dome” project by the United States proposes a space-based missile shield, built using a constellation of armed satellites. These satellites are designed to intercept incoming threats using kinetic and directed-energy weapons—essentially turning space into a new layer of national defence.

While such a system may enhance strike and surveillance capabilities, it raises serious strategic, legal, and ethical questions:

🔸 Violation of Space Norms?

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, signed by over 110 countries, prohibits the placement of nuclear or mass destruction weapons in orbit. While the treaty is silent on conventional arms, deploying weaponised satellites sets a dangerous precedent and contradicts the treaty’s peaceful use principle.

🔸 Triggering an Orbital Arms Race

If the U.S. proceeds with weaponising space, it’s unlikely others will sit idle. China, Russia, India, and other space powers may respond with their own orbital defence or offensive systems, risking a destabilising arms race in space—a scenario we’ve historically tried to avoid.

🔸 Dual-Use Threats

Satellites used for defence could also be used to target the critical communication infrastructure of other nations, including GPS, weather forecasting, and telecom systems. This dual-use nature increases the risk of miscalculation and escalation.

🔸 Global Commons at Risk

Space has long been treated as a global common—an area beyond sovereign ownership, open for peaceful research and benefit of all. The Golden Dome initiative challenges this consensus, and with it, the fragile balance of trust, stability, and cooperation in outer space.

This development is not just a technological milestone—it’s a geopolitical moment. It calls for urgent multilateral dialogue on revisiting space governance, clarifying legal frameworks, and ensuring that space remains a domain of peace, not conflict.

Let’s not turn the final frontier into the next flashpoint.

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