Put on your eye patch and crank up your best “arrr.” And while you’re at it, plop down a stack of doubloons and conjure up visions of Captain Jack Sparrow!
Talk about “high crimes” and misdemeanors. The growing pace of space as a commercial resource brings with it the prospect for misdeeds, corruption, piracy, and war.
The Center for the Study of Space Crime, Policy, and Governance (CSCPG) is looking into the risks of piracy in space and solutions to this potentially devastating economic and legal problem.
Speculative non-fiction
“Now is the time to start thinking and talking about mitigating the threat of piracy in space,” said Marc Feldman, executive director of the CSCPG. “As we like to say, and please forgive me, Leon Trotsky, but you may not be interested in space piracy, but space pirates are interested in you …”
Feldman, a space entrepreneur and finance professional, has co-authored, with Hugh Taylor, a specialist in cybersecurity, technology, and compliance, “Space Piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit” (Wiley, 2025). Taylor is director of the CSCPG.
As they write in their newly published book, “we think the phenomenon will occur,” and they offer suggestions for mitigating the risk. “We refer to our content as ‘speculative nonfiction,'” they add.
Attacks: physical and digital
Given that space piracy is a given, in their view, how best to characterize the first incident occurring – or perhaps it already has taken place?
“We are arguing that it’s already started, in very early stages, with attempts to hack satellites,” Taylor told Space.com. “However, we think that the increasingly commercial nature of space will result in attacks, physical and digital, on space assets, probably starting with disruptions of Earth-based space assets like launch facilities or ground stations,” he said.
As for concrete steps to counter the threat of space piracy, Taylor said that there are a couple of different entities that need to “deal with” the issue.
“From a U.S. perspective, our thought is that there needs to be a lead agency pulling together different stakeholders. This could be the U.S. Space Force, though they don’t appear to be structured for it or tasked with this right now,” said Taylor.
Varied stakeholders
Alternatively, there could be a need for a dedicated space security agency (or sub-agency) in the U.S. intelligence community, Taylor said.
The U.S. Navy is a great candidate, given their 250 years of experience fighting pirates, “but they lack the legal charter to get involved, if I understand federal statutes,” Taylor said.
Worldwide, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is probably the best venue for bringing together the varied stakeholders who need to engage on this topic, Taylor added.
“People don’t like the United Nations, but it arguably is the only venue where everyone can come together and talk. It could be the starting point,” said Taylor.
Cartels and kidnappers
The Center is focused on criminality in space, from space hacking to existing cybersecurity standards and practices in space, laws and treaties relevant to space crime, as well as cartels and kidnappers. A recent CSCPG webinar took on space as the next frontier for money laundering.
Feldman views initial space piracy incidents might, for example, include taking over a broadcast satellite in geosynchronous Earth orbit, to disrupt a major global media event, say the World Cup.
The edict from space pirates might be: “Either pay a very large amount to insure the televised event, or it goes dark … and other blackouts will follow,” Feldman envisions. “Also look at satellites involved in shipping. These are very vulnerable.”
Rapid response
Feldman stresses the need to develop new weapons and rapid response rockets to deal with events, like the day after hostages are taken in a commercial space station. “As of now there is no way to quickly respond.”
Having small, agile, quick and appropriately armed transportation to space might well provide options to deal with an event like this, Feldman told Space.com.
Feldman said that criminal actions are a major source of technological innovation.
“Pirates were instrumental in forcing colonial shipbuilding from New England to the Carolinas to build bespoke ships for their pirate customers. These ships were sleek, they were fast, and they were designed to store plunder and hostages,” said Feldman.
Non-state actors
The first thing that needs to be done, Feldman suggests, is that the United States Intelligence Community and the US Space Force need to acknowledge that non-state actors like pirates and criminals are, and will be, a major threat to our military space assets.
“Right now, the focus, which is correct, is on sovereign nations, such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. We are saying the attention needs to be expanded to include non-state actors,” said Feldman. “Once this understanding is digested, creative responses to prevent and mitigate these threats will follow,” he concluded.
For more information on the Center for the Study of Space Crime, Policy, and Governance (CSCPG), visit the center’s website.
