States party to the 1967 “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies” agreed to maintain space for exploration and peaceful uses for the benefit of all countries. The Treaty affirmed that space was not subject to national appropriation, and prohibited certain military practices in space including the placement of nuclear weapons in orbit, or military bases on the moon.

The norm of retaining space for peaceful uses is continually challenged by military expansion in space; but American interest in weaponizing space threatens to break this norm. Recently, vision statements and budgetary processes have shown increasing priority on the development of space-based components of ballistic missile defence, and research of defensive and offensive space systems.

Working in partnership with NGOs in both Canada and the US, as well as the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ploughshares has been involved with two principal efforts to promote a legal ban on weapons in space.

The first is a series of conferences, the most recent in April 2007 organized by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), linked to the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, the UN body charged with negotiating a space weapons ban. Reports of the conferences are available on the UNIDIR website.

The second avenue of work, the Space Security Index, is a program of research and information designed to produce an annual comprehensive and integrated assessment of space security. Project Ploughshares serves as the secretariat for this project. Through a program of research and an extensive process of expert consultation, including a survey of space experts, the project produces an annual report of the assessment of space security based on trends in specific indicator areas. By broadening the field to look at civil and commercial space activities, legal and doctrinal developments, environmental concerns, and the military uses of space including space weapons, this assessment demonstrates the full scope of the space security challenge, and draws more actors to the table to encourage cooperative and international approaches to solve the problems, and preserve space for peaceful uses.

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