On January 11th, 2007, China shot down an aging Chinese weather satellite with a missile. By doing this, the Chinese demonstrated their anti-satellite capability, and, along with that, reminded us all that space can become a theater for war.

At our February meeting, Phil Smith will be coming back to the future salon to kick off a series on the future of war. He will discuss the possibility of space becoming a theater of war and its full implications, and what has to be done to prevent that from happening. Phil is from the Secure World Foundation, a non-profit that aims to protect us from future space-based threats. On the web at secureworldfoundation.org. He tells me he has prepared a fancy powerpoint presentation just for us on this topic, and we're going to meet over at Larry's house where we can see it.

Imagine a time when traveling into and throughout the inner solar system becomes efficient, routine, safe, sustainable, peaceful and secure.

How will we get there?

This involves more than just efficient launch vehicles and spaceports, it involves space situational awareness, space traffic management, mitigation of orbital debris, Earth and space environment data
sharing, planetary defense and various infrastructure needs. It also means we need to prevent conflicts on Earth from spilling into space and avoid creating a situation that sparks conflict in space itself.

Key topics will include:

* Transparency and confidence building measures (TCBMs)

* Treaties and cooperative agreements,

* Other measures designed to prevent the weaponization of space

* The future of law enforcement in space, and

* The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a U.S. program designed to limit the proliferation of key technologies that can contribute to the weaponization of rogue nations, terrorist organization and criminal cartels, but which has ended up compromising the U.S. aerospace industry.

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What: Future salon of the future of (possible) space war with Phil Smith

Who: Anyone who cares about the future of space. Free and open to the public

Why: Because someday ... the future will arrive

When: Friday, February 27th, 2009, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Where: Larry's house