VIENNA -- Protests against the militarization and 'nuclearization' of space shook up the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space today. Delegates to the conference - otherwise known as UNISPACE III - were confronted both inside and outside the sleek concrete walls of the Austrian International Center as official opening speeches gently echoed harsher words distributed outside.

"There is urgent need for the demilitarization of outer space and a reduction in military-related activities," stated Y.M. Tiwari of India, the official conference spokesman for 77 developing countries and China. "[We are] also concerned with the increased use of radio-isotopes for power generation in space objects."

This later objection, concerned centrally with the accidental re-entry or explosive distribution of radioactive elements from space systems, could also be heard along the entryway to the conference. There, representatives of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space pressed photocopies and pamphlets into the outstretched hands of curious delegates.

"Ban space weapons and space-based military installations by national and international law," read the organization's July pamphlet. Alleging that an accident could "pollute the Earth atmosphere and cause thousands of deaths," the slightly bedraggled activists also called on the U.N. to "ban the use of nuclear power in space."

"Nuclear energy [in space] has been subject to a lot of irrational fear," responded Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, a veteran U.S. astronaut who made several presentations today. "Folks have to make it clear in their minds what the choices really are." Arguing that nuclear power in space could be made adequately safe and that space exploration required abundant energy, Chang-Diaz noted starkly that, "in space, power is life. We must have a power-rich environment."

With the U.S. military preparing to dominate space via new spy satellites, laser-based anti-satellite weapons, and even considerations of a space plane, official calls for the peaceful use of space took on added urgency. "Above all, we must guard against the misuse of outer space," said Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary General, in his opening speech. "We cannot view the expanse of space as another battleground for our earthly conflicts."

Whether these protests will have any effect remains to be seen. But the warnings underscore the changing nature of space, as space-faring nations reach to gain both new scientific knowledge and the military upper hand.