Will the future world order be determined by who controls low Earth orbit?

When US special forces raided Caracas and abducted president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in early January, the Venezuelan capital was hit by widespread power…

When US special forces raided Caracas and abducted president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in early January, the Venezuelan capital was hit by widespread power outages and communication blackouts.

Yet, within hours of the attacks, connectivity began to return – not from paralysed ground infrastructure, but from space.

Elon Musk’s Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, activated communications services across Venezuela via its vast constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites on terminals residents acquired via informal channels.

It was not merely a case of business operation, observers said, but an episode that underscored the disruptive potential and strategic implications of LEO satellite networks in future warfare and defence building.

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The race for the moon’s south pole: can China beat Nasa’s 2028 deadline?

For countries such as China, the growing role of LEO constellations as critical communications infrastructure during crises raises concerns – about information sovereignty, operational dependence, access to orbital resources and control over connectivity – as satellite networks are increasingly seen as a potential geopolitical game changer.

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