Review: Space Piracy
Space piracy: Preparing for a Criminal Crisis in Orbit by Marc Feldman and Hugh Taylor Wiley, 2025 hardcover, 256 pp., illus. ISBN 978-1-394-24020-3 US$30
The term "space piracy" might evoke images of science fiction, particularly the infamous 1980s movie The Ice Pirates. However, authors Marc Feldman and Hugh Taylor Wiley are dead serious about this potential future problem.
"Space piracy is a future problem that is starting to show itself in small-scale hacks," they write. "The probability of space piracy and crime becoming serious issues facing the space industry and national security organizations means it's time to start planning for it."
One reason many might struggle to take space piracy seriously is their tendency to draw analogies to maritime piracy, which involves boarding ships and stealing cargo. Feldman and Taylor, however, propose a more expansive view that includes cyberattacks, satellite hacking, and other forms of disruption to space operations.
"A space pirate in this scenario might not be a pirate in space but rather someone sitting at a computer on the ground hacking into networks," they explain. "Space cybersecurity is a concern, although very little of it would be considered piracy even by the authors."
Feldman and Taylor differentiate between space hacking and space piracy, arguing that the latter requires a ransom demand. They also acknowledge that hacking a satellite, for profit or other motivations, is significantly more difficult than targeting terrestrial networks.
The authors examine various forms of piracy that could become more realistic in the future if the space economy meets growth forecasts. These include stealing cargo in space or on its return to Earth, threatening to destroy space hardware, and even seizing crewed facilities in space.
"Most of these scenarios are well in the future," they admit, "but we argue that they could become more realistic in the future if the space industry meets growth forecasts." They include hypothetical scenarios of various space piracy incidents, including a pirate group launching a nanosatellite to jam transmissions unless paid a ransom.
However, some of these scenarios require questionable assumptions. For example, it's unlikely that a pirate group could develop and launch a satellite undetected next to another company's satellite. Additionally, the collapse of companies struggling with launch vehicle development is unlikely to make them easy targets for criminals.
"Nonetheless, it's better to be thinking about such problems too early than too late," says Feldman and Taylor. Space Piracy opens readers' eyes to the potential types of criminal behavior that might emerge in a booming space economy where access to space approaches the cost and convenience of maritime transport.
Imagine a future at the lunar south pole, where the discovery of scarce and valuable frozen volatiles tempts some to steal them. You could call them ice pirates.
About the Authors
Jeff Foust is the editor and publisher of The Space Review and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.
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