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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, October 13, 2011 · 18 An eye to the sky tracking war measures By Nathan Howes OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Even in the heavens, war is hell. Or it could be, if weapons of mass destruction are launched in space. This was the topic of discussion at Town Hall last week as part of a worldwide initiative, Keep Space for Peace Week, advocating the preservation of space for peaceful purposes. Anna Jaikaran was the guest speaker and is a founding member of People Against Weapons in Space (PAWS), a Toronto-based group that formed in opposition to Canadian participation in the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defence system. "If you don't believe you can eliminate nuclear weapons, you're probably not going to try. We really have to keep that in mind and have to keep providing examples that this is the way forward (and) this is possible because they're there," said Jaikaran. "We've really made tremendous progress." Since 1967, the Outer Space Treaty has been the basis of international space law and is designed to prevent signatory states from placing weapons of mass destruction in Earth's orbit. It is based on a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1962, she said. "The terms of the treaty are okay (and) include that astronauts should be regarded as envoys of mankind. The moon and other celestial bodies are to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and there are to be no weapons of mass destruction in space," said Jaikaran. However, the treaty doesn't cover everything, she said, as there is an omission on banning conventional weapons in space and the international community is still working on it. "We have an opportunity here to prevent the placement of conventional weapons in space before it happens. In so many cases, the CLAUDIO CUGLIARI / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER BLOCKING WAR FROM OUTER SPACE: Founding member of People Against Weapons in Space (PAWS) Anna Jaikaran speaks to guests during her presentation, Even In The Heavens, War Is Hell, in part of Keep Space for Peace Week held at Oakville Town Hall last week. weapons are already there and then we try to apply regulations to control them," said Jaikaran. The issue is known as Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) and is currently on the agenda at the conference on disarmament, which is the UN forum for negotiating multilateral arms control and disarmament agreements, Jaikaran said. "Unfortunately, tragically, the seeding has been deadlocked since 1996, so there's been no progress towards a treaty banning weapons in space," said Jaikaran. There's a general agreement that a space weapon is a device in space that could destroy other objects in space, or a device in space that can destroy objects on the ground, Jaikaran said. Also included are weapons on the ground that could destroy objects in space. "What is generally not considered a space weapon is a device in space that has no destructive capability, even if that device is used for military purpose or enables a weapon, like a satellite that is used for military communications or surveillance, or a weapons guidance system," said Jaikaran. In 2008, the United States proved what people have been saying when it shot down one of its own satellites, Jaikaran said. It was a disabled satellite that was orbiting, but not sending back information, so it was destroyed by a missile from a ship. Jaikaran said, technically, if countries were to stop the militarization of space, there would have to be no satellites, no surveillance for the military, no GPS and no cell phones. "While it may be unrealistic to stop the military using cell phones, that doesn't mean we have to accept any of the uses they make of space. A case in point is the use of satellite-enabled, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones," said Jaikaran. If you want to know what's going on behind a hill or a building, "you just lob it into the air and it will fly over it and you get back real-time video of what's going on there," she said. "The U.S. Army has about 4,800 of these. In August 2010, the Canadian government signed a contract worth $2.8 million for five of these," said Jaikaran. Jaikaran said there is something profoundly disturbing about drones and the use of them. People controlling drones experience their operations through computer screens and remote audio feeds. "What's so really repellent about using UAVs is that you can attack anyone else and all you risk is the loss of your equipment. If you're rich enough, you're unstoppable." 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