The United States recently established Space Command, a military headquarters for space operations that President Donald Trump described as a way to “ensure that America’s dominance in space is never questioned and never threatened.”
But, says Mai’a Cross, a professor of political science and international affairs at Northeastern University, sending the military into space could create conflict where there previously hadn’t been one.
“It’s important to remember that there are not any weapons in space,” says Cross, who has been invited to speak at international conferences on space exploration, and recently published a policy brief on the future of space exploration in the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
