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There are military aspects of space exploration.

The space technology is hugely impacted by the military needs and applications on the levels of spacecraft designs, available technologies, directions of research etc etc.

Are military aspects of space exploration ontopic?

Is weaponry testing and experiments (nuclear such as Argus project, regular space-to-space ballistic experiments such as Almaz space station gun, or whatever laser based systems there is) ontopic?

Are design and principles of operation of inspector and interceptor satellite ontopic?

Are implications of international military treaties such as Outer Space Treaty ontopic?

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    $\begingroup$ Are the ethics and politics of the militarisation of space on-topic? $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 0:06
  • $\begingroup$ I think ethics and politics should be left to the ethics site. $\endgroup$
    – user39
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 7:20

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As much as I hate military, in real life there is a enormous overlap between space exploration and military. E.g. a lot of technology in space is dual-use. A lot of stuff, such as rockets used for launching space probes, was developed for or by the military. A considerable number of astronauts still have a military background. The list goes on ...

If this is going to be a full-scale discussion on space [exploration], we need to allow it. No matter how unfortunate this is.

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    $\begingroup$ I hate the military and actually participated in a space for peace conference some weeks ago. Even for us who oppose the militarisation of space, or particularly for us who oppose it, it's good to know the facts. $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 0:08
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    $\begingroup$ I disagree with the military in principle, but the reality is that it is there and not going away for a while. As such, I find the topic of the military very interesting, and I like to keep up to date on it. Also, as ernestopheles has mentioned, it is integrally tied to space exploration and is a topic that should not be left out. $\endgroup$
    – called2voyage Mod
    Commented Oct 17, 2013 at 12:59
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We had a similar discussion over the course of more than a year on Security Stack Exchange - regarding security defences and testing, versus the 'Black Hat' type of questions.

Our conclusion was that as long as it pertained to security and the professional application of information security, then it was on topic.

Here, if a question has a connection with space exploration, then whether or not the motive behind the flight/mission/etc is peaceful or military, it should still be on-topic. The history of spaceflight was driven by military motives anyway - same as everything.

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