“Astropolitics” is defined as the political study of stars, celestial bodies, and activities in outer space. Astropolitics is dedicated to the military and commercial use of outer space and celestial bodies to extract resources from space and utilize them for the national strength of nations on Earth. Like geopolitics, astropolitics also involves a scramble for power, competing strategies, and the delicate balancing of countless resources. Hence, the new space race.

The outer space presents immense opportunities for the military field, research, technological advancement, navigation surveillance, and economy. It ensures secure communication; guides precision strikes and helps in the space-based reconnaissance. This has significantly dragged the attention of great powers. The US, China, and Russia are at the forefront of the race for dominance in outer space and intend to establish a strategic edge, marking the age of increased competition in outer space.

The race for dominance in outer space began between the United States and the former USSR during the Cold War period.

Just like the strategically important locations on the earth, the geography of space – though unmeasurable – has some highly relevant chokepoints.  The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is crucial for early warning systems, satellite communication, and other commercial activities where the competing states aim to outmaneuver the adversaries. Beyond LEO lies the Terra region, which is important for space exploration, space debris management, and GPS navigation. One of the leading theorists of astropolitics Everett Dolman coins, “Who Controls LEO, controls Near-Earth Space; who controls Near-Earth Space will control Terra; and whosoever dominates Terra will determine the destiny of mankind”.

The race for dominance in outer space began between the United States and the former USSR during the Cold War period.  Over the decades, China has taken a sheer interest in space exploration. China believes that its space ambitions aim to improve life on Earth by utilizing space resources. However, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) controls all of China’s space activities to serve the needs of national defense, military forces, and the national economy – a step indicating the extreme militarization of space.

Beijing has its space station which is fully owned, funded, and operated by China, unlike the International Space Station which is a multilateral project owned and operated by the US, Japan, Russia, Europe, and Canada.

China’s growing space program is widely supplemented by Russia’ prior experience of the space race with the US. Both countries are cooperating on various issues including rocket engines, spaceplanes, satellite navigation and monitoring space debris. Both countries have also announced a Sino-Russo lunar nuclear plant, signaling Russia’s eastward alignment and defection from the US-established norms of space exploration.

The Kremlin has been also noticed of space coercion especially after the Russia-Ukraine war and subsequent sanctions on Moscow: it stopped selling rocket engines to the US; it ceased working with Germany on a joint space program; the Kremlin destroyed one of its obsolete satellites sending space debris to ISS.

President Trump announced the Artemis program in 2017 to put the man and women on Mars again. However, President Biden tilted the program towards more commercial and military initiatives.

The increasing footprints of China and Russia in space have revived the US space ambitions. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the Americans assumed their self-proclaimed victory in the space domain against the communist threat. But the growing footprints of China and Russia have prevailed in an urge for counterbalancing strategies. President Trump announced the Artemis program in 2017 to put the man and women on Mars again. However, President Biden tilted the program towards more commercial and military initiatives.

The race in space has already begun and it is further fueled by the absence of any legally binding instrument. The conduct of geopolitics is governed by international standards, yet it is gruesome and lethal. An outlawed space will be more destructive. The space standards set during the Cold War in the shape of the Outer Space Treaty (1967), Rescue Agreement (1968) or Moon Agreement (1984) are no longer fit for the current space race and are open to several interpretational fallacies that can allow states to exceed the bounds of legal limits. Another problem with space laws is that their geography has no certain boundaries which makes it more difficult to be implemented.

Thus, the space race has begun among the great powers and has unveiled new strategic realities. To control the extreme militarization of space in tandem with its use for peaceful purposes, there is a need of an internationally recognized binding instrument that should set standards for peaceful use of the space. It should also establish practical protocols for arms control in outer space and introduce transparency standards to curtail strategic ambiguities. The instrument has to make relevant proposals for challenges such as space debris which can cause harm to satellites and other human activities. All these efforts are contingent on the cooperation among the great powers. Only through sustained cooperation, space will remain a domain of progress and security, not conflict and uncertainties.