Home On Lagrange: American Frontier Metaphors for Space

ABSTRACT

The myth and reality of the American frontier has left a lasting impression on American identity and sociocultural history. In contrast, the space frontier - despite its growing importance in Americans’ daily lives - is a domain with which many are still unfamiliar. To bridge that knowledge gap, American space experts and politicians often invoke frontier metaphors to relate concepts or priorities. This practice engenders false equivalences, sacrificing holistic understanding for expediency. These frontier metaphors focus on one facet of the theme while ignoring the historical and cultural baggage it entails. This paper questions the applicability and usefulness of three of the most used frontier metaphors for space: the gold rush, manifest destiny, and the Wild West. This paper examines these metaphors and argues that policymakers and policy analysts should aim for more precise language and avoid facile equivalencies when speaking and writing to confer the realities of the space domain.  

Introduction to the American Frontier: Give Me a Home Where the Meteors Roam

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before![1]"

- Jean-Luc Picard, 1987 / 2364

The American frontier is embedded in the spirit of the United States. Many of the closest held American beliefs, to include individual rights, property rights, land exploitation, and unending progress, were shaped by a collective memory and myth of the frontier.[2] During the 19th century, Frederick Turner developed the “frontier thesis,” which posits that the American frontier shaped American institutions, promoted democracy, and contributed to the justification of American exceptionalism.[3] Throughout the 20th century, the frontier metaphor was often used by politicians to justify bold, innovative directions which required definitive action.[4] President John F. Kennedy named his platform the “New Frontier” and put space at the center of the Cold War competition with the Soviet Union.[5] This view was popularized during the late 20th century in the space community and incorporated into Gerard O’Neill’s The High Frontier, advocating for human habitations in space.[6] 

American political, academic, and science-fiction rhetoric is now littered with frontier metaphors for human expansionism into space.[7] Policymakers, researchers, and reporters often call the simultaneous commercialization and democratization of space a “gold rush.”[8] When asked why space is important, proponents of space exploration argue space is humanity’s destiny, leaning on the ideals of the “manifest destiny.”[9] Finally, and most frequently, policymakers refer to the unknown and anarchic nature of space as the “Wild Wild West.”[10] 

Policymakers should not treat space as analogous to westward expansion in the United States for several reasons: First, while the commercial space market is expanding and potential returns on investment for asteroid mining are high, the American gold rush benefited only a select few while excluding and abusing many who sought to partake in the opportunity.[11] Second, the divinely inspired, racially loaded legacy of manifest destiny left by American expansion westward and overseas evokes imagery of prejudice and domination which should be studied as historical artifacts and not be applied to human expansion into space.[12] Third, the “lawless” nature of the West and the trope of the sheriff as judge, jury, and executioner, while heavily stylized by Hollywood, does not hold up to the reality of the space domain and the many international laws and norms which govern activities in space.[13]Invoking these metaphors drives false assumptions and conclusions about the future of space exploration. Using precise words to define and guide space policy avoids outdated, irrelevant thinking.

Gold Rush: An Astronomical Return on Investment

"Across history, human development has relied upon the finite resources available on Earth. But the moon [sic] – a seemingly barren rock – may actually be a treasure trove of rare resources vital to Earth’s future. And now, nations are looking upwards to a potential lunar gold rush.[14]"

- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2015

The “gold rush” in terms of the frontier corresponds to the discovery of gold in California’s Sierra Nevada in 1848. This craze later swept through Australia, Africa, and South America as prospectors scoured the lands in search of gold.[15] The rush in California attracted over 300 thousand people and ushered in the state’s quick accession to the Union in 1850.[16] Between 1848 and 1859, miners dug out approximately 28.4 million troy ounces of gold, valued at over $51 billion in today’s currency.[17]

As with much of American history, the gold rush offered tremendous opportunity – for a select few. Pre-existing conflicts with Indigenous tribes were magnified by mass migration westward and minority migrants who sought their riches found mistreatment amid racial hierarchies.[18] Chinese migrants were subjected to brutal conditions; white miners exploited, beat, disfigured, robbed, and murdered them.[19] Despite contributing to California’s economic and demographic growth, Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States in 1882 following the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act.[20] 

There are numerous sources for an extraterrestrial “gold rush.” 16 Psyche, a 140-mile wide potato-shaped asteroid that is “unusually rich in metal” resides in the asteroid belt.[21] 16 Psyche’s rich deposits of iron, nickel, gold, and other precious metals have a potential value of $10 quintillion, approximately 100 thousand times the value of today’s global Gross Domestic Product.[22] Even with the extreme costs of designing an infrastructure for asteroid mining, conducting rigorous tests, launching several heavy space launch vehicles, and putting the asteroid into a closer Lagrange point or into cislunar orbit, any profit-seeking corporation or conglomeration of corporations could disrupt the global economy on a scale unseen since Mansa Musa.[23] A closer, more attainable target may be the Moon, which has reserves of rare-earth minerals and metals such as yttrium, scandium, and platinum, used in nearly all modern technologies.[24] China produced 70% of all rare earths in 2022, and President Biden has announced major U.S. investments to seek alternative rare earth supply chains and limit dependence on its geopolitical competitor.[25] China’s current grip on these resources may incentivize both China and the United States to race to the Moon and secure those available rare earths before the other can.[26]

In terms of international law, Article II of the Outer Space Treaty (OST) states that “Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”[27] The interpretation of Article II when it comes to asteroid or Moon mining is contentious; the United States does not view asteroid or Moon mining as violating Article II of the OST as reflected by the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, a Presidential Executive Order, and the Artemis Accords, and neither does China (though it is against the Artemis Accords in principle).[29] 

How this will play out in practice against the potential return on investment is still unknown, although the trend appears to be arcing toward some level of allowable outer space resource development. Those nations and industries that seek to make their fortune among the stars have the opportunity to create inclusive, diverse, and humane working conditions, none of which were priorities during the American gold rush. An emphasis on diversity goes beyond social justice – diverse perspectives enhance an institution’s ability to combat groupthink, drive innovation, and augment productivity and financial returns.[30]

Manifest Destiny: It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves

"We are a nation of pioneers. We are the people who crossed the ocean, carved out a foothold on a vast continent, settled a great wilderness, and then set our eyes upon the stars. This is our history, and this is our destiny.[31]"

- Donald J. Trump, 2020

“Manifest destiny” implies that American expansionism is both sanctioned and expected by God.[32] In other cases, this phrase may indicate an intangible, primal need to explore and see what is beyond the next mountain. Jeff Bezos is one of the modern proponents of a space-based destiny for humanity. Blue Origin’s vision is of “millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth,” and Bezos’ dream of space was influenced by O’Neill’s depiction of off-world living.[33] Others, like the founder of the Mars Society, Robert Zubrin, consider space as humanity’s inevitable destination.[34] This takes on a quasi-religious zealotry when discussing space as a “utopia,” a means by which humanity can shed its greedy, violent nature, and transcend into its new form among the stars.[35] 

However, the original term was used as an excuse for mass genocide and displacement rather than its antithesis.[36] As an extension of colonialism, American frontiersmen raced to claim large swaths of land, bringing the ever-encroaching borders into conflict with the native Indigenous peoples who resided there.[37] Imperial greed was still not sated upon hitting the Pacific, and the American frontier was redefined to accommodate greater borders. In March of 1898, Senator Albert Beveridge, known as one of the most prominent American imperialists, urged for further expansionism under racial and divine terms: “We cannot retreat from any soil where Providence has unfurled our banner; it is ours to save that soil for Liberty and Civilization. For Liberty and Civilization and Gods promise fulfilled, the flag must henceforth be the symbol and the sign to all mankind - the flag!”[38] 

There is no certainty that humanity’s expansion into the stars will occur. Humanity’s acceleration toward human spaceflight was indeed meteoric – in fewer than 70 years, we went from flying the first aircraft to landing on the Moon. However, this period was followed by a stagnation in national space budgets and programmatic ambition. This is because the space race was fueled by geopolitical competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, not by the will of the scientists and engineers that made it feasible. With the advent of “new space” and the commercial space boom led by private space actors, many see the commercialization and industrialization of space slowly edging out political concerns in terms of priority. In the decades to come, it is uncertain whether this trend will continue or reverse, regulation will stifle or ignite innovation, or space debris will be addressed or worsened.[39] These variables have the potential to make these space dreams reality or bind humanity to this planet for the rest of its existence. Humanity should not take it as destiny, but as a goal to work toward in a sustainable manner.

The Wild West: Cowboys and Outlaws

"The Outer Space Treaty says that you can’t have weapons of mass destruction in the space domain and you can’t build military bases on planets. Beyond that, it’s the wild, wild west.[40]"

- John W. “Jay” Raymond, 2021

This theme depicts the American frontier as being in a state of de factoanarchy, with the federal U.S. government on the East coast being unable or unwilling to enforce laws. Some historians define its beginning with the founding of Jamestown in 1607, however, this essay defines its start as the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.[41] 

The myth of the Wild West is steeped in lone sheriffs dispensing “frontier justice” at the end of a gun. Some commentators have criticized the Wild West metaphor in space on numerous occasions because there is a legal framework surrounding the domain, but that framework is far from complete.[42] Despite being vague due to compromise between the Soviet Union and the United States, the Outer Space Treaty nonetheless provides a large international legal paradigm for space activity. The United States and its allies comply with the Treaty and have independently established commercial and civil regulations to solidify certain practices domestically and implement many of the treaty’s provisions.[43]

Consequently, the domain remains relatively peaceful.[44] Despite the numerous threats facing space operations, no nations have launched kinetic physical attacks in space against any other country.[45] This norm is noteworthy, considering the many decades of global space operations, competition, and the inexorable advancement of human destructive capabilities. 

There is also a considerable difference compared to the bloody nature of the Wild West. Although Hollywood’s saloon showdowns and quickdraws in the street are apocryphal, the forced removal of Indigenous peoples, the American Indian Wars, and the push to the Western coast during this time period led to the physical and cultural genocide of tens of thousands.[46] There is no one to displace in space. 

However, the peaceful state of space has the potential to change quickly. The CSIS’ Space Threat Assessment 2023 points out that the destabilizing and destructive Ukrainian War brought attention to counterspace capabilities.[47] In April 2021, Russian troops jammed GPS used by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Ukraine, and Russian state media threatened GPS on television later that year.[48] In 2022, Russia conducted a cyberattack against Viasat ground systems and attempted to jam Starlink satellites providing overhead internet access to Ukraine.[49] CSIS logged nine separate counterspace attacks in the Ukrainian war and predicted that an increase in such attacks would likely coincide with future conflict.

Despite these attacks being reversible, temporary, and non-kinetic, Russia could yet employ the first direct-ascent antisatellite attack against the overhead collection in support of Ukraine if Russia considers destabilizing that capability as the only means to achieve a strategic outcome. Some believe that we are underestimating the odds that such activity will occur, as we expand out into space, 

"[T]he issues of mutual vulnerability will be extremely high, and the destructive capacity is going to greatly exceed the territorial, habited locations. So saturation of violence capacity will mark solar-orbital space (though at least it won’t be so quick, because Mars is tens of millions of miles away). As for rivalries over resources, the historical record on Earth is that frontiers are very violent places.[50]"

The relative peacefulness of space may then be ascribed to the fact that there are relatively few people in space. Given a larger presence, the harsh environment, lack of resources, and economic competition may inexorably drive humanity towards a violent conclusion in space. 

Conclusion

Metaphors are powerful tools to communicate complex and new ideas across old paradigms. The American frontier presents some useful elements for comparison to space, but it is bogged down in sociohistorical baggage and factually misleading conclusions. Space policy practitioners and politicians rely on catchy bumper stickers to provide analogies for the unfamiliar space domain, but these comparisons lead to false conclusions. Space requires its own ways to approach and consider how humanity will interact with the environment. There is evolving colloquialism in some areas of space policy – formerly “manned” spacecraft are now referred to as “crewed” spacecraft, and “colonizing” space is being replaced by “settling” space. Space dialogue is a key part of ensuring that space is accessible for all. 

Not only is the legality of extraterrestrial mining contested, it also requires a tremendous effort to accomplish and could necessitate a re-conception of the global economy. Should these issues be resolved, humanity has an opportunity to benefit a larger group of people than perhaps at any other point in history. The concept of a manifest destiny is poetic, yet its determinist nature favors passivity in a domain that requires urgent coordination and regulation. The myth of the “Wild West'' describes a violent, lawless expanse, yet under international consensus, the space domain continues to be relatively peaceful, though contested. The totality of the sociocultural legacy left by these metaphors and their correlations to space exploration must be examined.  Humanity’s imagination for what is possible for the future in outer space need not be restricted to allegories from the past. That narrative will write itself as humanity expands beyond earth’s orbit. 

Nico Wood is a strategic communications advisor at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Foreign Service master’s program with a concentration in science, technology, and international affairs as well as the National Intelligence University's master of science in strategic intelligence program. He has extensive experience in the fields of space policy, foresighting, and emerging technologies. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official guidance or position of the United States Government, the Department of Defense, the United States Air Force, or the United States Space Force. If you have a different perspective, we’d like to hear from you. 

[1] “Star Trek: The Next Generation Intro HD,” YouTube, uploaded January 31, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnDtvZXYHgE.

[2] Ray Allen Billington and Martin Ridge, Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001), ix.

[3] Frank Turner is widely recognized as a founding father of American Western history. See Nathalie Massip, “The Role of the West in the Construction of American Identity: From Frontier to Crossroads,” Caliban 31 (2012), 239-248, https://doi.org/10.4000/caliban.486.

[4] Lisa Messeri, “We Need to Stop Talking About Space as a ‘Frontier,’” Slate, March 15, 2017, https://slate.com/technology/2017/03/why-we-need-to-stop-talking-about-space-as-a-frontier.html.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Gerard O’Neill, The High Frontier (North Hollywood, CA: Space Studies Institute Press, 2019). 

[7] See footnotes 8-10.

[8] Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “The Lunar Gold Rush: How Moon Mining Could Work,” NASA, May 29, 2015, https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/the-lunar-gold-rush-how-moon-mining-could-work; and Curiosity Stream, “Asteroid Mining: Is the Next Gold Rush in Space?” YouTube, uploaded February 4, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq8VgOETYuk.

[9] Mary-Jane Rubenstein, “Manifest Destiny in Space,” Current Affairs, March 31, 2023, https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/03/manifest-destiny-in-space; and Elon Musk (@ElonMusk), “Destiny, destiny No escaping that for me,” Twitter, December 30, 2020, 12:33am, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344154578678214657?lang=en.

[10] Brian W. Everstine, “CSO: Space is the ‘Wild, Wild West,’ Requiring New Norms for Operating in Orbit,” Air and Space Forces Magazine, April 30, 2021, https://www.airandspaceforces.com/cso-space-is-the-wild-wild-west-requiring-new-norms-for-operating-in-orbit/; and Sarah Cruddas, “Space: Not the final frontier, but the new Wild West,” Politico, January 19, 2020, https://www.politico.eu/article/space-final-frontier-wild-west/; and Saul Elbein, “Creating laws for space’s ‘Wild West,’” The Hill, March 18, 2022, https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/598688-creating-laws-for-spaces-wild-west/.

[11] Natasha Stange, “Fools’ Gold: Racism, Social Mobility, and Native Americans during the Gold Rush,” Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History 11 no. 1 (2021), 30-46.

[12] Mary-Jane Rubenstein, “Manifest Destiny in Space,” Current Affairs, March 31, 2023, https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/03/manifest-destiny-in-space.

[13] John Springhall, “Have gun, will travel: The myth of the frontier in the Hollywood Western,” The Historian (Winter 2011), 20-24.

[14] “The Lunar Gold Rush: How Moon Mining Could Work,” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, May 29, 2015, https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/the-lunar-gold-rush-how-moon-mining-could-work.

[15] Benjamin Mountford, A Global History of Gold Rushes (Oakland: University of California Press, 2018), https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctv5j0298.

[16] “California Gold Rush, 1848-1864,” LearnCalifornia.org, accessed May 5, 2023, https://www.learncalifornia.org/doc.asp?id=118.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Natasha Stange, “Fools’ Gold: Racism, Social Mobility, and Native Americans during the Gold Rush,” Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History 11 no. 1 (2021), 30-46.

[19] “Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush,” PBS, accessed October 16, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-chinese-immigrants/.

[20] Ibid.

[21] “How NASA’s Psyche Mission Will Explore an Unexplored World,” NASA, December 20, 2021, https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/how-nasa-s-psyche-mission-will-explore-an-unexplored-world.

[22] Elizabeth Gamillo, “This Metal-Rich, Potato-Shaped Asteroid Could Be Worth $10 Quintillion,” Smithsonian Magazine, January 4, 2022, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/asteroid-16-psyche-may-be-worth-more-than-planet-earth-at-10-quintillion-in-fine-metals-180979303/.

[23] “Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali),” National Geographic, accessed May 5, 2023, https://www.ancient-origins.net/weird-facts/mansa-musa-egypt-0017070.

[24] “Moon shop,” Boeing, June 11, 2021, https://www.boeing.com/features/innovation-quarterly/2021/06/moon-shop.page.

[25] “Fact Sheet: Securing a Made in America Supply Chain for Critical Minerals,” The White House, February 22, 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/02/22/fact-sheet-securing-a-made-in-america-supply-chain-for-critical-minerals/; and Mai Nguyen and Eric Onstad, “China’s rare earths dominance in focus after it limits germanium and gallium exports,” Reuters, October 20, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-rare-earths-dominance-focus-after-mineral-export-curbs-2023-07-05/.

[26] “The Lunar Gold Rush: How Moon Mining Could Work,” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, May 29, 2015, https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/the-lunar-gold-rush-how-moon-mining-could-work.

[27] “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, December 19, 1966,

https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html.

[29] “H.R.2262 - U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act,” 114th Congress (2015-2016), introduced May 12, 2015, https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2262/text; “Executive Order on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources,” The White House, April 6, 2020, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-encouraging-international-support-recovery-use-space-resources/; and “The Artemis Accords,” NASA, October 13, 2020, https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Artemis-Accords-signed-13Oct2020.pdf.

China’s Origin Space company is the first dedicated to space resource mining. See: “Expand the Boundaries of Human Civilization,” Origin Space, accessed May 5, 2023, https://origin.space/#/detail?id=27.

[30] Keith Vore, “Understanding Groupthink,” Small Wars Journal, April 8, 2013, https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/understanding-groupthink; Rocío Lorenzo et al., “How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation,” BCG, January 13, 2018, https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/how-diverse-leadership-teams-boost-innovation; “Diversity wins: How inclusion matters,” McKinsey, May 19, 2020, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters#/.

[31] Office of Space Commerce, “National Space Policy,” NOAA, December 9, 2020, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/National-Space-Policy.pdf.

[32] “The Components of Manifest Destiny,” University of Groningen, accessed September 15, 2023, http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/1801-1900/manifest-destiny/the-components-of-manifest-destiny.php.

[33] “About Blue Origin,” Blue Origin, accessed May 5, 2023, https://www.blueorigin.com/about-blue/.

[34] The Mars Society, “Why Mars? - Dr. Robert Zubrin, The Mars Society,” YouTube, uploaded June 26, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S6k2LBJhac.

[35] Steven J. Dick, and Roger D. Launius, “Compelling Rationales for Spaceflight? History and the Search for Relevance” in Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2006), https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_20060022860.

[36] Mary-Jane Rubenstein, “Manifest Destiny in Space,” Current Affairs, March 31, 2023, https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/03/manifest-destiny-in-space.

[37] Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire (New York: Picador, 2019), 25-35.

[38] Albert J. Beveridge, “March of the Flag,” Address to an Indiana Republican Meeting Indianapolis, Indiana, September 16, 1898, https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text5/beveridge.pdf.

[39] Kara Cunzeman and Robin Dickey, “Strategic Foresight for the Space Enterprise,” Aerospace Corporation Center for Space Policy and Strategy, November 11, 2021, https://csps.aerospace.org/papers/strategic-foresight-space-enterprise.

[40] Jennifer Carter-Powe, “CSO Raymond and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discuss future of the Space Force,” United States Space Force, February 26, 2021, https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article/2516899/cso-raymond-and-astrophysicist-neil-degrasse-tyson-discuss-future-of-the-space/.

[41] Due to its specific focus, this paper also does not seek to correct the historical inaccuracies present in the imagined West – on the contrary, these fictitious beliefs demonstrate a whitewashing and reinterpretation of events conducive to the narrative underlined in so many Hollywood movies set in the West.

[42] Michael Listner, “Space Ain’t the Wild Wild West,” I Need My Space, May 2018, https://open.spotify.com/episode/0KA4yotyBGNlXjmBhabGaR?flow_ctx=e4de9b4e-d055-48c0-9456-65523392cbe9%3A1687227696; and “A few thoughts,” LinkedIn post, 2021, https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6794231984160878592/.

[43] Mir Sadat, LinkedIn (post), 2021, https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6794231984160878592/.

[44] Robin Dickey, “The Rise and Fall of Space Sanctuary in U.S. Policy,” Aerospace Corporation, September 1, 2020, https://csps.aerospace.org/papers/rise-and-fall-space-sanctuary-us-policy.

[45] Kari Bingen et al., Space Threat Assessment 2023 (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2023), 4, https://www.csis.org/analysis/space-threat-assessment-2023.

[46] Marco Patricio, “How Violent Was the Wild West?” Medium, August 26, 2019, https://medium.com/@marcodpatricio/how-violent-was-the-wild-west-a76783411462; and Arthur Grenke, God, Greed, and Genocide (Washington, D.C.: New Academia Publishing, 2005).

[47] Kari Bingen et al., Space Threat Assessment 2023 (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2023), https://www.csis.org/analysis/space-threat-assessment-2023.

[48] Aerospace Security Project, “Counterspace Timeline, 1959-2022,” CSIS, accessed June 19, 2023, https://aerospace.csis.org/counterspace-timeline/.

[49] Andrea Valentino, “Why the Viasat hack still echoes,” Aerospace America, November 2022, https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/features/why-the-viasat-hack-still-echoes/; and Kate Duffy, “A top Pentagon official said SpaceX Starlink rapidly fought off a Russian jamming attack in Ukraine,”Business Insider, April 22, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-pentagon-russian-jamming-attack-elon-musk-dave-tremper-2022-4.

[50] James Pethokoukis and Daniel Deudney, “5 Questions for Daniel Deudney on the Geopolitics of Space Exploration,” American Enterprise Institute, June 24, 2021, https://www.aei.org/economics/5-questions-for-daniel-deudney-on-the-geopolitics-of-space-exploration/.