I’m sure we’ve all grown accustomed to certain days or weeks being designated celebrations of historical events and milestones = or, in some instances, acknowledging something seemingly trivial like World Toilet Day [which is actually dedicated to promoting how crucial it is to have clean sanitation available to every person worldwide].
Perhaps one of the most exciting celebratory weeks established by the United Nations [UN] is World Space Week, which started October 4 and runs through to the 10th.
The week is bookended by the dates of Sputnik 1’s launch on October 4, 1957, and the signing of a peace treaty covering space exploration on October 10, 1967 [the agreement’s full title is “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies” – because the United Nations doesn’t do anything by halves].
The UN proclaimed World Space Week in December 1999 as a week to “celebrate the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition”.
Events around the world are organised independently, but anecdotal evidence suggests that both Australia and New Zealand have had a keen focus on sustainability and conservation-based events – like protecting our Dark Sky Reserves.
In researching the week, it was interesting to find that its three major sponsors have somewhat questionable interests in terms of the services they provide to space-focused initiatives – especially in the context of the explicit commemoration of a celestial peace treaty.
The first is Lockheed Martin, a company that notoriously sponsored a ‘War Conference’ in 2015 in Wellington and is known as one of the largest high-tech weapons manufacturers in the world.
Its space endeavours cover defence, intelligence, exploration, and communications, to name a few.
Space-based communications, aside from posing environmental threats, have quickly become the topic of many discussions across the globe as security and surveillance encroach on the civil right to privacy.
The second major sponsor for the UN’s World Space Week is Viasat, which – much like Elon Musk’s Starlink enterprise – promises “high-speed internet wherever you live” through satellite communications, much to the ire of astronomers worldwide.
Scrolling through Viasat’s website quickly shows that it, too, is heavily invested in defence, aviation, and space networking systems.
The third sponsor of the week is perhaps the one that will draw even the casual conspiracy theorists from their hiding holes.
SNC is a company dedicated to “aerospace, security and [defence] solutions”.
If you haven’t heard of this outfit before, SNC stands for Sierra Nevada Corporation.
SNC sits within driving distance of the purported location of Area 51 – a highly classified U.S. Air Force military installation that has been the focus of numerous conspiracies involving extraterrestrial life.
Given all these highly questionable connections, is it really all that outlandish to ask whether space, defence, and peace can all be sincerely used in the same sentence and query exactly what the true intentions of World Space Week sponsors really are?
One thing is for certain, regardless of your conspiratorial ideologies – space is a commons that should be enjoyed, explored, and protected by all.
Hello Marlee, it was nice to meet you last week at the World Space Week Business Connect event in Martinborough (sponsored by Star Safari of Milky-Way.Kiwi), which you seemed to have enjoyed.
I am actually the National Coordinator for World Space Week (WSW) New Zealand and the lead on the initiative to have World Space Week in Wairarapa. I am a little surprised you did not speak to me before writing this article.
You are trying to skew the readers’ perception and diminish the work of thousands of volunteers worldwide who support World Space Week of their own back and money (including the function you attended on Wednesday night). You are also deliberately misinforming the readers by presenting the wrong facts. For example, you said:
“The week is bookended by the dates of Sputnik 1’s launch on October 4, 1957, and the signing of a peace treaty covering space exploration on October 10, 1967 [the agreement’s full title is “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies” – because the United Nations doesn’t do anything by halves].
For your information, the Space Treaty is not “a peace treaty”, but it provides the basic framework for international space law. Also, for your information, World Space Week is an international and United Nations -endorsed week in which people can learn about the benefits we get from space exploration.
World Space Week Association is the entity coordinating the link between the UN’s United Nations Committee for Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and the World Space Week events – similar to a secretarial function. The only expense the Association incurs is the part-time salary of the Executive Director and some posters printed yearly. How do I know? I am one of the thousands of WSW volunteers worldwide.
Trying to link defence contractors to some ulterior motifs of World Space Week plays up to conspiracy theories. It is a particularly poor analysis, especially in the line where you mention Area 51. Does that mean there was some nefarious ulterior motif to launching 45 water rockets at our event in Carrington Park on Saturday – NO is about encouraging our young people into STEM. The World Space Week Association did not pay us or anyone else for any events we organised this week. They are all volunteered.
Will you stop using your mobile phone from now on, given that the GPS you might rely on to drive to a certain location is owned by the US Airforce and was designed to put missiles on target?
You’ve missed the point of what World Space Week is about – it is about highlighting the myriad of benefits space research brings to the world. Also, IF you have checked World Space Week activities over the last years, you would have seen the large number of astronomy and space events held throughout the developing world, themed “Space and Sustainability, Women in Space, Satellites Improve Life, The Moon, Gateway to the Stars and so on).
It is disheartening to see a local newspaper fall into sensationalist journalism to play up to conspiracy theorists and miss the real story.
I understand that opinion pieces have a much lower editorial standard, and this is simply your opinion. I want to think a source has ill-informed you, and I hope next time you apply some analytical rigours, the readers of the Wairarapa Times Age (myself included as a subscriber) deserve better.
Haritina Mogosanu
National Country Coordinator World Space Week
Director Milky-Way.Kiwi