The Department of Defense announced on February 22 that the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have signed the Vision 2031 Cooperative Cooperation document, which calls for greater cooperation to prevent conflicts in space.
The Joint Space Operations (CSpO) Vision 2031 states that the seven countries will “create and improve opportunities for cooperation, coordination and interoperability to maintain freedom of action in space, optimize resources, improve mission reliability and resilience, and prevent conflicts.
The U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement that CSpO is an initiative to “meet the common need to encourage the responsible use of space, recognizing the challenges to space sustainability, the threats posed by technological advances, and the increasingly comprehensive and aggressive anti-space programs of other nations '.
The Allies agreed to follow guiding principles such as freedom to use space, responsible and sustainable use of space, partnership in recognizing sovereignty, and respect for international law.
“The military plays an important role in assisting international efforts to ensure freedom of access to and use of space,” the document says. "The world depends on space systems - activities in space have implications across the spectrum of human activity."
The document comes after the November test of a Russian anti-satellite missile that destroyed one of its own satellites, creating a field of at least 1,500 traceable debris in low orbit, threatening space operations and human spaceflight.
p>The Vision 2031 paper notes that CSpO members are engaged in space activities that "seek to minimize the generation of long-lived space debris."
The Department of Defense said CSpO representatives met in December, "reaffirming their countries' support for this vision, including the intention to prevent conflicts that spread or arise in space and to hold accountable those who threaten the security of the space environment and the space assets of others.
Brian Weeden, director of program planning for the Secure World Foundation, said Vision 2031 shows that the United States and its allies continue to develop their views on international cooperation in space.
"CSpO originated from the 2010 Schriever wargame, where they implemented the concept of a multinational command center in space," Weeden said. “It sounds simple, but at that time it was a revolutionary concept for the Ministry of Defense. Since then, they have gradually but persistently worked to implement it not as a single physical location, but rather as a set of principles and working methods to unify their separate national space operations centers.
Weeden also said that what's notable is that it started as a Five Eyes project, but now officially includes France and Germany, which is "another big step for the US."
According to Wieden, the wording of this new document "is meant to amplify the norm-setting messages you see from the US government and its allies elsewhere."
