Book Review: Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space
Book Review: Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space

Summary/Abstract: Outer space shall be the province of all mankind, free for exploration and use by all states and its exploration and use carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries. These provisions from the Outer Space Treaty (an international agreement adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations that entered into force in 1967, currently with more than one hundred States parties to it) should govern activities by all states conducted in or regarding outer space. However, is outer space really being used for peaceful purposes? As humanity continues its technological advances, exploration and use of outer space are becoming more important even in international politics and security. Militaries do actively participate on usage and development of spacecrafts; civil space budgets in the world are growing each year and 21st Century saw rapid growth of the commercial space sector. Since human lives are ever more dependent on space technologies – in economic area, social issues or even security-related affairs, achieving sustainable approach to space by all is in the interest of the humankind. Therefore, a question whether the current and future approach of relevant actors to outer space is or will be cooperative or rather conflictual was chosen by Dr. James Clay Moltz from Naval Postgraduate School in California, USA, as subject of his recent book entitled Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space, published in 2014 by Columbia University Press.

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