Global space policy? Is this the right direction?
AAAS reported the following news:
Obama Considering NASA-DoD Collaboration. President-Elect Obama is reportedly considering breaking down some longstanding barriers between NASA and the Department of Defense in an effort to speed up the transition away from the aging space shuttle fleet.
CW: This move could pose a significant threat to potentials for international collaborations. Links between NASA and DoD would change the security requirements attached to space science, choking international links.
Space expert, Dr. Scott Pace, at GWU Space Policy Institute makes the following comment about this story:
"I think the story line is a bit speculative in implying DoD's budget couldbe tapped to help NASA in space launch. DoD and NASA have two very differentpolicy foundations for procurement of launch vehicles. DoD needs assuredaccess to space for unmanned payloads and doesn't have any manned missions.This leads them to pay for a major portion of the fixed costs incurred byEELVs and they don¹t use foreign launchers. NASA buys U.S. commercial launchvehicles for its payloads and doesn't pay for EELV fixed costs. At times,NASA may even use a foreign launcher for science payloads as part of aninternational barter arrangement (e.g., Ariane 5 and the James Webb SpaceTelescope). On the other hand, NASA requires human access to space and hasan architecture that addresses LEO and Lunar missions while enabling futurehuman missions to Mars. That architecture includes COTS options as well asAres 1 and the heavy-lift Ares 5. It¹s certainly possibly that an EELV mightbe used for robotic or even partial human access to LEO as part of COTS, butthe EELVs can't meet the performance requirements for Ares 1, much less thehigher performance Ares 5."
"I don't see the new Administration "confronting" China in space - rather Isee them as being interested in potential cooperative scientific ventures.There will be some topics where a tough line will be needed (e.g., avoidcreating more space debris, stem missile proliferation) but in general, Iwould see more civil space cooperation with China, not less."
Obama Considering NASA-DoD Collaboration. President-Elect Obama is reportedly considering breaking down some longstanding barriers between NASA and the Department of Defense in an effort to speed up the transition away from the aging space shuttle fleet.
CW: This move could pose a significant threat to potentials for international collaborations. Links between NASA and DoD would change the security requirements attached to space science, choking international links.
Space expert, Dr. Scott Pace, at GWU Space Policy Institute makes the following comment about this story:
"I think the story line is a bit speculative in implying DoD's budget couldbe tapped to help NASA in space launch. DoD and NASA have two very differentpolicy foundations for procurement of launch vehicles. DoD needs assuredaccess to space for unmanned payloads and doesn't have any manned missions.This leads them to pay for a major portion of the fixed costs incurred byEELVs and they don¹t use foreign launchers. NASA buys U.S. commercial launchvehicles for its payloads and doesn't pay for EELV fixed costs. At times,NASA may even use a foreign launcher for science payloads as part of aninternational barter arrangement (e.g., Ariane 5 and the James Webb SpaceTelescope). On the other hand, NASA requires human access to space and hasan architecture that addresses LEO and Lunar missions while enabling futurehuman missions to Mars. That architecture includes COTS options as well asAres 1 and the heavy-lift Ares 5. It¹s certainly possibly that an EELV mightbe used for robotic or even partial human access to LEO as part of COTS, butthe EELVs can't meet the performance requirements for Ares 1, much less thehigher performance Ares 5."
"I don't see the new Administration "confronting" China in space - rather Isee them as being interested in potential cooperative scientific ventures.There will be some topics where a tough line will be needed (e.g., avoidcreating more space debris, stem missile proliferation) but in general, Iwould see more civil space cooperation with China, not less."
Labels: space policy
posted by Caroline at
4:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home