Report

Escalation and Deterrence in the Second Space Age

Published
By Todd Harrison, Zack Cooper, Kaitlyn Johnson, Thomas G. Roberts
View the Report
Download PDF
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first human-made object to orbit the Earth. Precisely 60 years later, space-faring nations face a much different space environment; one that’s more diverse, disruptive, disordered, and dangerous. Today’s space domain presents a number of asymmetries that differ from other domains, creating a specific deterrence environment with unique policy implications.

Escalation and Deterrence in the Second Space Age, a new report by the CSIS Aerospace Security Project, discusses the evolution of space as a contested domain, the changing threats to U.S. space systems, deterrence theory and its applications to the space domain, and findings from a space crisis exercise administered by CSIS last year.

To learn more about this study and hear from a panel of space security experts, check out the Escalation and Deterrence in the Second Space Age event webcast.Aerospace

About the Authors

Todd Harrison is VP of Research at Meta Aerospace and the former director of the Aerospace Security Project and Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS. As a senior fellow in the International Security Program, he led the Center’s efforts to provide in-depth, nonpartisan research and analysis of space security, air power, and defense funding issues.

More articles by Todd Harrison

Dr. Zack Cooper is senior fellow for Asian security at the CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Cooper worked at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council.

More articles by Zack Cooper

Kaitlyn Johnson is deputy director and fellow of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Ms. Johnson supports the team’s strategic planning and research agenda. Her research specializes in topics such as space security, military space systems, and commercial and civil space policy. Ms. Johnson has written on national security space reorganization, threats against space assets, the commercialization of space, escalation and deterrence dynamics, and defense acquisition trends. She is also a cohost of the CSIS podcast Tech Unmanned, which features guests with both policy expertise and technical expertise in order to break through the national security jargon and technology hand-waving to get to the core of the technical realities of these emerging capabilities, benefits to development, and the barriers to success. Ms. Johnson holds an MA from American University in U.S. foreign policy and national security studies, with a concentration in defense and space security, and a BS from the Georgia Institute of Technology in international affairs.

More articles by Kaitlyn Johnson

Thomas G. Roberts is an adjunct fellow with the CSIS Aerospace Security Project and a graduate research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Astrodynamics, Space Robotics, and Controls Laboratory. He is also a Ph.D. student in the Institute’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research interests include civil and commercial space policy, space security, and orbital mechanics.

More articles by Thomas G. Roberts

Explore More

Related Keywords
Escalation and Deterrence in the Second Space Age
Published