The World Today

February & March 2016: Space, the final front line

Modern life relies on satellite sytems but they are alarmingly vulnerable to attack as they orbit the Earth. Patricia Lewis explains why defending them from hostile forces is now a primary concern for states

The author of a forthcoming book on the aid industry tells Alan Philps that humanitarians have become an arm of western security policy. Scroll down for a link to a podcast with Peter at the end of the article

Spaces systems are a vital but vulnerable part of modern life, writes Kazuto Suzuki

The graphic shows the main orbital paths for satellites launched since the start of spacefaring in 1957.

Jill Stuart outlines the legal framework in which the militarization of space has evolved

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland's ruling party PiS, gives a speech in front of the Constitutional Court

Fears that Kaczyński is leading his country towards Putinism are not supported by history, argues Mikołaj Kunicki

Any satellite orbiting the Earth – there are currently 1,300 of them and counting – can become a space weapon. This is the sobering message of our cover story. We rely on satellites more and more for navigation, communications and countless aspects of modern life, but their safety has been neglected.

Articles

John Lichfield on the growth of the Calais Jungle, a problem with no obvious solution

Hettie Colquhoun, a volunteer offering help to refugees in Calais, describes her work

The West might think it knows best, but it doesn’t, writes Kholoud Mansour

Soundbite analyses leave little room for Syrians to have a say, writes Neil Quilliam

The European External Action Service’s special envoy for space talks to Alan Philps about the EU as a rising power in space and the challenge of preventing cyber-attacks on a global network of satellites