Crisis and Competition at the Space-Cyber Nexus
Principal Investigator: Erica Lonergan, Columbia University and Benjamin Jensen, Marine Corps University
Years of Award: 2024-2026
Managing Service Agency: Army Research Office
Project Description:
The purpose of the project is to evaluate the implications of what we term the “space-cyber nexus” for deterrence, escalation, and crisis dynamics. While space and cyberspace are distinct operational domains, they are becoming increasingly interdependent in practice. However, current academic research as well as strategy largely treat the domains as siloed. Yet, cyberspace presents a key vulnerability for space capabilities, as threat actors could exploit digital vulnerabilities for the purposes of intelligence, coercion, or outright attack. In turn, cyber threats to space capabilities are creating novel deterrence and escalation risks, especially in the nuclear context. They may also imperil capabilities essential for conventional conflict and critical infrastructure. Altogether, the space-cyber nexus is complicating how militaries and governments are able to project power, exercise strategies of deterrence and coercion, and prevail in conflict in and through space and cyberspace.