As conflict rages on Earth, an arms race may be underway in outer space. On May 30, a US diplomat warned that Russia had launched a “weapon into orbit”, something Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, branded as “fake news”. It follows on from accusations in recent months by US and Russian officials that both countries are attempting to place nuclear weapons in space.
Such action, if it is true, will contravene the UN’s 1967 Outer Space Treaty, under which all parties agreed “not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction”. The treaty is now ratified by 114 countries, including leading space powers such as the US, Russia, China, India, France, Japan and the UK.
