Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

An expert white paper has been released, calling upon the next U.S. administration and Congress to make space exploration and use a policy priority.

A coalition of 13 space organizations has released: “Ensuring U.S. Leadership in Space.”

Key issues

Despite a treasure trove of benefits that space has provided the United States, maintaining the country’s space leadership is not guaranteed, the white paper suggests.

There are four key issues spanning Civil, Commercial, and National Security Space that threaten U.S. leadership and require immediate attention:

Budget uncertainty; international competition; the space operating environment; and workforce trends.

 Congested, contested, and competitive

In these key areas identified, the white paper flags a number of back-up statements, such as:

— NASA’s funding has fallen to historically low levels (adjusted for inflation) – below where it was during the mid-1990s – squeezing the agency’s ability to develop new missions for human exploration, astronomy, planetary science, Earth science, solar science, technology development, and aeronautics research, which has led to cost and schedule inefficiencies for ongoing programs and missions.

Credit: Lockheed Martin

— Fourteen countries – including North Korea – operate their own launch vehicles and more than 100 nations have some type of space program. At least four countries are presently investing billions of dollars in the development of new launch systems. The U.S. is beginning to win back market share of commercial satellite launches for the first time in over a decade. Policies that promote open competition and innovation should be prioritized to maintain this positive trend, but mission assurance for national security launches remains paramount.

— Space is an increasingly congested, contested, and competitive domain in which space-based assets are threatened by orbital debris as well as cyber and kinetic attacks. Moreover, there is risk introduced by both unintentional and intentional interference (jamming) of radiofrequencies by both terrestrial and space-based systems. This puts human missions at risk and threatens the safety of all space platforms.

LauncherOne hauls satellites into orbit.
Credit: Virgin Galactic

— Although the U.S. space workforce remains one of the largest in the world, the U.S. civilian space workforce has declined more than 17 percent since 2006 due to reduced U.S. space exports, reduced government space budgets, and increased foreign competition. As an example, of the world’s 25 largest commercial satellite operators, only one is based in the United States.

Actions needed

The white paper suggests several actions needed to continue U.S. leadership in space, such as:

• Commit to predictable budgets, fund robust investments, promote innovative partnerships, and repeal the Budget Control Act of 2011.
• Continue global space engagement.
• Restore American access to space.
• Encourage the continued use of fully competitive, innovative partnerships.
• Maintain, strengthen, and grow the domestic industrial base.
• Commit to a robust national security space program that maintains U.S. dominance of the high ground in space.
• Define and commit to new missions to expand the frontiers of science.

Coalition groups

Credit: M. Wade Holler
Director, Digital Content and Media Strategy
Explore Mars, Inc.
Used with permission

The Coalition is led by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Commercial Spaceflight Foundation, and the Space Foundation, with members: Aerospace Industries Association, Aerospace States Association, American Astronautical Society, Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, Colorado Space Coalition, Satellite Industry Association, Silicon Valley Space Business Roundtable, Space Angels Network, Space Florida, and the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

The Coalition’s lead group, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), is an organization having more than 30,000 engineers and scientists from 88 countries dedicated to the global aerospace profession.

For the full white paper, go to:

http://www.aiaa.org/EnsuringUSLeadershipInSpace/

Also, go to: 

http://www.aiaa.org/uploadedFiles/Whats_New/EnsuringUSLeadershipInSpace_FINAL.pdf