What If World War Ill Starts in 2024?

Our planet is on the brink of another devastating World War, and while it's terrifying to imagine the realities this conflict could bring to people all over the world, this time it could play out on a battlefield unlike any other: space. Which nations would be the main cosmic combatants? What kinds of never-before-seen weaponry would be used? And would it ever end? This is "What If," and here's what would happen if World War III was fought in space.

Before we launch into the cosmic battleground of World War III, let's take a look at the terrestrial tensions leading us to the brink of war. No matter when exactly the full-scale conflict would erupt, the stage has been set already for quite some time. Many of the geopolitical rivalries and alliances have already been compounding and could ignite beyond our atmosphere at any moment. A digital arms race for technological supremacy has been brewing between the U.S., China, and Russia. But this cyber warfare isn't the only realm where the most powerful nations on Earth have already been disputing. International agreements such as the nuclear forces treaties are eroding. Climate change is turning the Arctic into a strategic military position, and nations are already developing all kinds of anti-satellite and other space-capable technologies.

If a violent international conflict erupted in the final frontier, would we even be able to call it a World War? Well, debating this name wouldn't be very helpful when the fight would be unfolding on entirely new dimensions. Okay, not literally in new dimensions, yet the war would still be limited by our four-dimensional framework of space and time. That's not to say that even further in the future, we couldn't be fighting interdimensional wars. Let's just not get too far ahead of ourselves.

The technologies of space warfare would be a leap beyond our current capabilities. The three most powerful nations, and others with advanced space programs like India, Japan, and the European Union, would need to accelerate the development of an entirely new arsenal of weapons. Satellites, old and new, would become active components of the various war machines. They could be reconfigured into highly sophisticated communications scramblers, anti-missile defense systems, or even high-energy laser beams. This could sound like science fiction, and it is, but it's only the beginning.

The concept for this radical weapon has been around since the aftermath of the Second World War. It was developed by a researcher for Boeing as a way to deliver devastating blows without the need for deploying nuclear weapons. In the battleground of space, weapons like these would be a game-changer, and the satellites carrying these rods would be highly strategic targets to take out to avoid massive casualties from artificial meteor strikes.

One of the most essential strategic sites in a war in space would be the biggest of all satellites in orbit: the Moon. This celestial body would be a highly disputed territory for establishing bases. It would also be home to artillery and research and development laboratories to forge new weapons.

With all the conflict erupting in space, the borders of the battle could continually expand as newer and more capable technologies develop. Eventually, the struggle could lead to a deadly conflict over Mars, the asteroid belt, or beyond. The repercussions for this war on earthly civilians would also be severe. The wide destruction of satellites would lead to a global breakdown of communications, navigation systems, and weather prediction technology. Economies would be devastated as all kinds of trade agreements would fall apart, and the budgets of all the world's most powerful nations would go almost exclusively to further advancements in the space military-industrial complexes. And while the battles would rage off the surface of the planet, there'd be no escape from the new reality of war. Every night, as you watch the stars, you'd catch glimpses of orbital bombardments easily visible to the naked eye.

Now, you could be wondering just how far would World War III in space go, and just how would it ever end? Well, at this moment, that's impossible to say. But you could certainly imagine that this kind of war would be almost entirely unpredictable. It would no longer be about taking over pieces of land on Earth; it would be about who could conquer the vastness of space. What would begin with satellite-crossing fire could evolve to the construction of massive space stations that serve as bases for a new era of deep space exploration and conflict. And to take things even further, who's to say it would ever end at all? Or maybe it wouldn't be humans, but another advanced alien civilization that would swoop in and diplomatically end the conflict. And if that were to happen, well, let's hope we don't get too carried away and find ourselves at war with other species from faraway planets.

But now that makes me wonder, if aliens arrived tomorrow, could that possibly prevent this whole world war in the first place? Well, that sounds like a story for another "What If."