Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 17 hours ago
This Lecture of Opportunity took place on May 20, 2024.
The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.
Is Russia Nuking Space? Motivation and Implications of a Possible Russian Nuclear Anti-Satellite Weapon
Synopsis
In recent months the U.S. government has claimed that Russia is developing plans to attack American satellites by placing nuclear weapons in orbit, where they could be detonated in time of war. That would indiscriminately damage low-orbiting satellites and threaten the lives of astronauts from all nations – including Russia's own satellites and cosmonauts – with a radiation hazard lasting for months. Why would Russia consider this? What would the actual effects of a nuclear weapon in space be? Isn’t this against international law? What are the strategic and diplomatic implications for the United States? Join a panel discussion sponsored by NWC’s Space Studies Group that will explore this disturbing new challenge.
Speaker Bios:
David T Burbach is an Associate Professor in the National Security Affairs Department and serves as the Director of the NWC Space Studies Group. Dr. Burbach’s research interests include the politics of U.S. foreign policy, civil-military relations, and the intersection of international relations and technology, particularly outer space security. He has a doctorate in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Derrill T. Goldizen, is a professor in the Joint Military Operations Department of NWC’s College of Distance Education. Dr. Goldizen retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Lt. Col., having served in as a weather officer and later an atmospheric and space physics instructor at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He holds a doctorate from the Pennsylvania State University.
Major Matthew Ormsbee is an Assistant Professor of Law at the United States Air Force Academy where he is the Director of Space Law and a member of the Law, Technology & Warfare Research Cell. He earned an LL.M. degree (master’s in law) in air and space law at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University, in 2023. Before law school, Maj Ormsbee was a Fulbright Fellow in Germany and later an AmeriCorps service member.
Nikolas Gvosdev is professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College and held the Jerome E. Levy chair of economic geography and national security from 2016-2020. Dr. Gvosdev is the editor of the foreign policy journal Orbis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, co-host of the Doorstep podcast, a contributing editor at The National Interest and a non-residential senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
This Lecture of Opportunity took place on May 20, 2024.
The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.
Is Russia Nuking Space? Motivation and Implications of a Possible Russian Nuclear Anti-Satellite Weapon
Synopsis
In recent months the U.S. government has claimed that Russia is developing plans to attack American satellites by placing nuclear weapons in orbit, where they could be detonated in time of war. That would indiscriminately damage low-orbiting satellites and threaten the lives of astronauts from all nations – including Russia's own satellites and cosmonauts – with a radiation hazard lasting for months. Why would Russia consider this? What would the actual effects of a nuclear weapon in space be? Isn’t this against international law? What are the strategic and diplomatic implications for the United States? Join a panel discussion sponsored by NWC’s Space Studies Group that will explore this disturbing new challenge.
Speaker Bios:
David T Burbach is an Associate Professor in the National Security Affairs Department and serves as the Director of the NWC Space Studies Group. Dr. Burbach’s research interests include the politics of U.S. foreign policy, civil-military relations, and the intersection of international relations and technology, particularly outer space security. He has a doctorate in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Derrill T. Goldizen, is a professor in the Joint Military Operations Department of NWC’s College of Distance Education. Dr. Goldizen retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Lt. Col., having served in as a weather officer and later an atmospheric and space physics instructor at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He holds a doctorate from the Pennsylvania State University.
Major Matthew Ormsbee is an Assistant Professor of Law at the United States Air Force Academy where he is the Director of Space Law and a member of the Law, Technology & Warfare Research Cell. He earned an LL.M. degree (master’s in law) in air and space law at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University, in 2023. Before law school, Maj Ormsbee was a Fulbright Fellow in Germany and later an AmeriCorps service member.
Nikolas Gvosdev is professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College and held the Jerome E. Levy chair of economic geography and national security from 2016-2020. Dr. Gvosdev is the editor of the foreign policy journal Orbis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, co-host of the Doorstep podcast, a contributing editor at The National Interest and a non-residential senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
