Verification on space launching pads before the launch also seems improbable in the foreseeable future because of military and commercial secrecy. By the way, this question was touched upon at the end of the '80s during the USSRUSA negotiations on space weapons, in relation to a ban on orbital ABM systems. It was acknowledged at that time that such verification methods would be overly intrusive and practically impossible to implement for technical reasons (the necessity of opening containers with the payload, and its identification before being installed on a space vehicle). It is possible that in the context of radical disarmament measures and abandonment of military confrontation, such measures of pre-launch inspection could in time become possible for the verification of space disarmament. But at this stage they seem unrealistic, in particular regarding the RFPRC Draft Treaty of 2008. As regards land, air, and sea-based space weapons that are most likely to appear in the foreseeable future (but not addressed by the RFPRC Draft), even here the picture is mixed. The banning or limitation of such systems as were deployed by the Soviet Union in the '7080s (and experimental missiles tested by China against satellites in 2007) would not be difficult if their technical characteristics and locations could be agreed upon, using methods applied by the Treaty on Intermediate and Shorter Range Missiles and START-1.

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Arbatov, Alexey. Space Weapons: Science Fiction, Real Threats and Arms Control Opportunities. : International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, May 2009. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 16-17 ]