The Union of Concerned Scientists has called on the president to reconsider his plans and warm up to the idea of space as a place where different nations coexist peacefully instead of a place where war takes place.

The science advocacy group, with an extensive satellite database, pointed out that military activity was only a minor part of all things happening in space. Instead, the group claimed that space was in fact a place with a history of people working together beyond national interests. 

Data from the group’s database backs up this claim. Out of the 2,666 satellites listed as active, only 339 have military uses. While the U.S. is the country with most satellites in space (1,308), multinational corperations come in third place.

Originally published by Statista and reproduced with permission