Accessory to war : the unspoken alliance between astrophysics and the military
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-549) and index.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and writer-researcher Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. "The overlap is strong, and the knowledge flows in both directions," say the authors, because astrophysicists and military planners care about many of the same things: multi-spectral detection, ranging, tracking, imaging, high ground, nuclear fusion, and access to space. Tyson and Lang call it a "curiously complicit" alliance. "The universe is both the ultimate frontier and the highest of high grounds," they write. "Shared by both space scientists and space warriors, it's a laboratory for one and a battlefield for the other. The explorer wants to understand it; the soldier wants to dominate it. But without the right technology -- which is more or less the same technology for both parties -- nobody can get to it, operate in it, scrutinize it, dominate it, or use it to their advantage and someone else's disadvantage." Spanning early celestial navigation to satellite-enabled warfare, Tyson and Lang examine the intersection of science, technology, industry, and power.