Trump's Golden Dome, and Why the 1967 Outer Space Treaty Is No Obstacle to It
The Outer Space Treaty is outdated and has greatly limited human development of space. But it's no impediment to Donald Trump's missile shield, no matter who claims otherwise.
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by Peter Hague
May 24, 2025
On Wednesday, during a press conference for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in answer to a question from an AFP journalist, a spokeswoman made plain her government’s objection to the proposed “Golden Dome” ballistic missile defence system.
Golden Dome is, based on statements from the White House, a space-based boost phase interception system. By attacking missiles while they are launching, it negates the utility of countermeasures to traditional missile shields, such as multiple reentry vehicles and decoys. The main downside is that such a system requires an extremely large number of satellites in order to guarantee that one will be overhead at the moment the enemy missile launches.
Starlink represents a breakthrough in the cost of building and launching such massive constellations, and so for the first time the approach is technologically credible.
It is only credible for the United States for the moment though, and the representative of the Chinese government objected to its development thus:
“Golden Dome” intends to create an unconstrained, global, multi-layer and multi-domain missile defense system. It plans to expand the U.S. arsenal of means for combat operations in outer space, including R&D and deployment of orbital interception systems. That gives the project a strong offensive nature and violates the principle of peaceful use in the Outer Space Treaty. The project will heighten the risk of turning the space into a war zone and creating a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system. This is yet another “America First” initiative that puts the U.S.’s absolute security above all else. It violates the principle of “undiminished security for all” and will hurt global strategic balance and stability. China is gravely concerned.
First, Ms. Mao is claiming a vague violation of principle — but the actual text of the Outer Space Treaty does not ban systems such as Golden Dome.
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