Space Security in the Age of AI

Space Security in the Age of AI

From Interpreting India by Carnegie India

May 7, 2026 · 1h 7m · Season 5 · Episode 42

About this episode

This episode discusses how AI is transforming space security and the implications for accountability and international treaties.

In this episode of Interpreting India, Tejas Bharadwaj is joined by Almudena Azcárate Ortega, senior program analyst at Secure World Foundation, for a wide-ranging conversation on how emerging technologies, particularly AI, are reshaping the landscape of space security. A space lawyer and policy scholar with deep experience in multilateral processes, Almudena brings both technical nuance and diplomatic realism to questions that most space conversations still treat as hypothetical. This episode explores: What is space security, and how is it different from space safety and why does that distinction matter more than ever in the age of AI? How is AI being used in space domain awareness, debris management, and Earth observation, and what are the limits of relying on AI for high-stakes decisions in space? What happens to accountability and liability when an AI system integrated into a satellite causes damage — either through malfunction or deliberate manipulation? Do we need new treaties to govern AI in space, or is the existing framework, built around the Outer Space Treaty, still fit for purpose?

People in this episode

Host: Tejas Bharadwaj

Guest: Almudena Azcárate Ortega

Topics covered

  • space security
  • artificial intelligence
  • space law
  • debris management
  • accountability in space
  • multilateral processes

Keywords

  • space security
  • AI
  • debris management
  • Earth observation
  • Outer Space Treaty
  • accountability
  • liability

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UNIDIR, Outer Space Treaty

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