Technology Archive

Throughout history there have been times when new technology changed how wars were fought, and the politics of war itself, in ways that its early adapters did not anticipate. When fragile flying machines first appeared over the battlefield, who could have foreseen that one day bombers, drones and missiles could strike with such precision and at such range that they would alter the actual role of geography in warfare? Today, another revolutionary technology is emerging with robots, but its implications remain unclear. With the robotic revolution, America’s futurists, military leaders, strategists and policymakers must work hard to cast a light […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. Engineers from the University of New South Wales Canberra and the Defense Science and Technology Group announced last week that a new miniature cube satellite called Buccaneer, which will look at ways to better predict the orbits of space objects, is ready to be launched. In an email interview, Brett Biddington, the founder of Biddington Research, a space and cyber policy consulting firm, discusses Australia’s space policy. WPR: What are Australia’s space capabilities, in terms of its domestic public and […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. Brazil’s space agency recently announced plans to develop a microsatellite launch vehicle that would take satellites weighing up to 1 kilogram into orbit. The first test launch is scheduled for late 2018. In an email interview, Robert Harding, the head of the political science department at Valdosta State University, discusses Brazil’s space program. WPR: What are Brazil’s space capabilities, in terms of its domestic public and private space-industrial complex, and who are its major international partners, in terms of space […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. This summer, at a meeting with government officials, researchers from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced that the first test launch of South Korea’s indigenous next-generation rocket would be delayed by 10 months, until late 2018. In an email interview, Daniel Pinkston, a professor at Troy University’s Seoul campus, discusses South Korea’s space program. WPR: What are South Korea’s space capabilities, in terms of its space-industrial complex, and who are its major international partners, in terms of space diplomacy and […]

Last month, China successfully launched the world’s first quantum satellite, which is designed to establish “hack-proof” communications between space and the ground. The launch puts China ahead of its rivals in the quest to develop quantum technology, which has major implications for security and defense policy. In an email interview, Taylor Owen, an assistant professor of digital media and global affairs at the University of British Columbia and the author of “Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age,” and Robert Gorwa, a graduate student at the Oxford Internet Institute and a researcher at the University of […]