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Gargi’s question on “the nature of space and
its ultimate foundation” continues to intrigue
physicists, philosophers, military entrepreneurs
and space investors of our time.

Today, two existential questions stand: whether
we will see more militarized and commercialized
space with sharp rise in orbital “dog fights” and
no-win space warfare; or the cosmos will present
the infinite opportunities for space collaboration
and diplomacy to advance human progress. But winning space, others argue, does not Leonardo’s “Codex
guarantee victory in asymmetrical warfare. In on the Flight of
The answers are as vast and mysterious as space protracted wars, space superiority may deliver Birds” engineering
itself. Experts, however, point to these clues. a Pyrrhic victory in the short run but strategic drawing laid a
First, the line between fiction and reality is defeat in the long run. foundation for
thinning at unprecedented pace in space our journey to the
warfare. Fiction-inspired weapons are now Meanwhile, there is no consensus even on what stars in today’s
21st-century reality: autonomous AI systems a space weapon is, according to Aaron Bateman, “great bird”
from 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator; author of Weapons in Space. Second, the past few spacecraft.
orbital surveillance from Starship Troopers; years have seen the height of the “space revolution,”
networked battle coordination from Star Wars; experts say. “There were more satellites
and commercial satellites controlling AI drones launched last year than in the entire history of
from Venus Equilateral. Space moguls and humanity,” said Dylan Taylor, CEO of Voyager
military engineers are mostly science fiction Technologies, at this year’s World Economic
fans. Forum in Davos. His company is an “aerospace
national security and traditional space company
The dual military-civilian use of space—at listed on the New York Stock Exchange.” For
commercially available rates and lower costs— decades, space has enabled satellite navigation,
for communication, intelligence, data collection, communications, weather forecasting and Earth
navigation, missile warning, target identification observation. Now space is cheaper. Rockets are
and precision strikes has skyrocketed in conflicts reusable. The space industry, converged with
from Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan to Venezuela AI, telecommunications, robotics, quantum
and Iran. The fictional HAL 9000 inspired computing and biotechnology, is growing at
autonomous spacecraft and AI-driven mission breakneck speed. Meanwhile, the line between
control systems being developed by NASA and public and private space investment is thinning.
the U.S. Space Force, established in 2019 as the
newest addition to the Pentagon, which operates A major shift in the entire space technology
Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. ecosystem is the transition of the funding, use
and control of space from state actors to non-
Space moguls and military engineers are mostly state actors, such as venture capitalists, defense
science fictions’ fans. Space technologies, entrepreneurs and global business elites.
namely satellites, missile systems, spacecrafts
or any human-made objects put in space This shift, analysts say, points to a geopolitical
and space infrastructure like ground-based future of space with an “alliance-based
command centers, are strategic military assets. commercial order.” Defense, space innovations,
And artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken them and commercialization are intertwined. Global
to the next level. “In this century, hardware defense spending reached $2.63 trillion in 2025,
fights battles. Networks decide wars. Weapons the highest in human history, according to the
win engagements. Systems win wars,” said International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Shubhi Mishra, CEO of RAFT, awarded $928 Defense space spending rose to $73.5 billion,
million by the U.S. Air Force in 2025 to work surpassing civil space budgets for the first time,
on the use of space-based assets with AI to Novaspace reported. Space is one of the key
transform “strategic intelligence into actionable domains, like the deep sea, the poles, cyberspace
capabilities.” and global finance, whose control determines

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