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Military Exploration

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An Atlas II rocket takes off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying a communications satellite for the United States Navy. The satellite is part of the Navy's global communications network.

Military Exploration

Among the different reasons for sending space probes and satellites into orbit is the use of the space environment for defensive purposes. Military equipment such as missiles, rockets, and communications systems were among the first hardware used in the early space programs. Gradually, civil and commercial space projects developed their own purpose-built spacecraft. But the military continues to have a dominant place in the space programs of the United States, China, and Russia. The principal launching sites for rockets in all three countries are military bases, and military ships and planes are used for tracking and communications during rocket launches.

The French commercial launching site in Kourou, French Guiana, had its origins as a French military base in the 1950s. The military forces of Israel, Brazil, India, and North Korea have also been major influences in the origins and evolution of these nations' scientific and commercial space programs.

In the United States, the rockets used in the civil, commercial, and military space programs had their origins as ballistic missiles and later were first used for space purposes by the military. The first U.S. space rockets, derived from German V-2 rockets captured by the military following the end of World War II (1939-1945), were tested and flown by the U.S. Army from a military base at White Sands, New Mexico. The rocket that carried the first attempted launch of a U.S. satellite, the Vanguard, was developed by the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Air Force developed subsequent intercontinental ballistic missiles. The R-7 ballistic missile developed by the Soviet military has been adapted as a launching rocket and is still flying today.

Military forces have developed several different types of satellites in various types of orbits in space. These include communications satellites such as the Defense Space Communication System and Milstar, navigation satellites such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), early warning satellites such as the Defense Support Program satellites, and weather satellites such as the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. During the GulfWar in 1991, space satellites, including secret reconnaissance and surveillance craft, were used by coalition-deployed forces for communicating among force locations and for tracking Scud missiles fired by the Iraqi government.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan proposed a major expansion of the military use of space in his Strategic Defense Initiative. The project called for the development of a space-based warning, tracking, and intercept system to destroy missiles attacking the United States. The program lasted from 1983 to 1993 and was discontinued following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The administration of President George H. W. Bush proposed a limited space defense system in 1989 called Global Protection against Limited Strike. This system was to feature a fleet of orbiting attack craft called Brilliant Pebbles. The "Pebbles" carried no explosive equipment but would destroy incoming missiles by colliding with them as they entered space. This project was also canceled when President Bill Clinton entered office in 1993.

A more limited space-based tracking and laser attack system is being researched by the administration of George W. Bush to defend the continental United States from a limited ballistic missile attack from Third World nations. The first test flight of a prototype antimissile space laser is set for 2012.