THE NEW SPACE RACE: US Congress recommends placing assets at Lagrange points to counter China: “We’re in another space race back to the Moon, and this time it’s with China.”

Way back in the first edition of Outer Space: Problems of Law & Policy, Rob Merges and I noted that the peaceful O’Neill-colony plans for the Lagrange points were at odds with their military usefulness, which stems from the fundamental orbital dynamics of the Earth-Moon system. In essence the Lagrange points are the highest of orbital high ground.