Keep Space For Peace Week 4-12 October 2025

Every autumn, public events take place around the globe to highlight and challenge the increasing militarisation of space co-ordinated by The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. 

The UK is strongly supporting US military expansion into space – including President Trump’s new multi-billion dollar ‘Golden Dome’ programme – with several US bases here in the UK directly involved in the space warfare programme. Alongside this, one of three huge space radars the US Space Force are planning to develop is set to be built in south Wales though strongly opposed by local campaigners.

As well as supporting US military space programmes, the UK military too is expanding into space with military satellites being launched and spaceports being developed in Scotland. For more on the UK’s military space programme see the Space Watch UK  website.  

Take Action

While peace and human rights campaigners are rightly focused on stopping the on-going genocide in Palestine, it is important that we also challenge the militarisation of space. Increasingly, space based systems are being used to enable warfare taking place around the globe, including by the IDF to aid their appalling attacks in Gaza.  

A number of Keep Space for Peace Week events are already planned in the UK, with more to be added soon.

Sun 5th Oct:  Rally at USAF Croughton, near Oxford  

Mon 6th Oct: Keep Space for Peace vigil outside Scottish Parliament  

Tues 7th Oct: Vigil at USAF Menwith Hill in Yorkshire 

Fri 10th  Oct:  Street stall, central Glasgow

Sat 11th Oct: Protest at MoD Corsham in Wiltshire

If you are interested in holding a local event to support Keep Space for Peace Week, three is a map here showing some of the main locations around the UK with a direct  connection to the military use of space.  We also have a number of resources if you would like to organise a local street stall.  Please do get in touch.  

Other News

Space Warfare and the Strategic Defence Review

Peter Burt examines what the Strategic Defence Review has to say about space warfare and finds it argues that the UK’s military space programme, already closely linked to the civil space sector, should exploit civilian space efforts even more explicitly.  

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: How the UK is co-opting space research to build nuclear weapons

Space Watch report reveals that nuclear weapons designers at the Ministry of Defence’s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) are pushing to engage the civil space sector in designing new warhead systems. Committed to designing a new nuclear warhead as part of the programme to replace Trident, the AWE needs to collaborate with the broader UK science and engineering community, and in particularly with the space sector.  

Benefits for All? Local Perceptions of the SaxaVord Spaceport

In May 2025, researchers from Space Watch UK visited the Island of Unst in the Shetlands to investigate the thoughts of local people on the SaxaVord Spaceport, planned location of the first rocket launch from UK soil. 

We will soon release a report setting out the findings from the conversations we had.  As one of the islanders told us, the space sector is “not a business we understand”, so general optimism about the prospect is tinged with an element of uncertainty about what the future might hold.