The road to space runs through the poles

Why are there more antennas on Svalbard than anywhere else on Earth? Svalbard of all places, where cats and childbirth are banned and there are more polar bears than people? This cluster of islands in the Arctic, one thousand kilometers from Norway, is key to everything from your weather forecast to your car’s navigation. At 78 degrees north, Svalbard is the highest-latitude satellite ground station on Earth and is a crucial point in humanity’s growing dependence on space. In fact, the polar regions — the Arctic and Antarctic — are both crucial to space access.

The polar regions are the only place on Earth where American security, Russian survival, and Chinese ambition unambiguously overlap. They are also places at the bleeding edge of space exploration, development, and militarization. China, and to a lesser extent Russia, recognize the importance of the space-polar nexus and are building capabilities and presence in high latitudes. While polar allies are key to U.S. interests in space, U.S. strategy appears to neglect the poles at an especially important time.

Space development is creating a new set of global problems for which the Outer Space Treaty is inadequate, but polar treaties and governance models may provide templates for building international norms in space. The United States should reengage with its polar allies to shore up both American security and the future of space for all.

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