In describing the paper, the Space Foundation notes:
For nearly 60 years, U.S. government and private sector investment and partnerships in space have been critical to the nation and our world. They make possible a $330 billion global space industry, establish new technologies, revolutionize national security, enable and extend our global communication networks, help us understand our own planet better and inspire millions of Americans to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Yet there still remain serious challenges to U.S. leadership in space that the next administration and congress will have to address. The white paper outlines the challenges that the U.S. space program faces, including unpredictable budgeting, foreign competition and workforce trends. In addition to detailing the challenges, the paper explores sensible policy recommendations to address and overcome them, actions necessary to continue our nation's leadership in space.Here are some observations from the paper:
-- Despite its significant accomplishments, 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.
-- Currently, only China and Russia are capable of launching humans into space. The U.S. now depends upon Russia to launch American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Between 2012 and 2017, NASA will pay Russia over $2.1 billion to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. Fully funding NASA’s commercial crew program to restore U.S. capability for independent access to the ISS and low Earth orbit 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 radio frequencies by both terrestrial and space-based systems. This puts human missions at risk and threatens the safety of all space platforms.
It is not a very optimistic picture. To see Russia and China ahead of us on space capabilities is disturbing yet not surprising. Whoever sits in the White House next year if the theme is restoring America then this is one area where it can be done. Social benefits are certainly important, yet the ability to see something larger than ourselves is also important for a nation. And it can be accomplished with focus and not an overwhelming amount of funds. Are we up to it?
