Space Policy Library

Campaign Space Policy Statement from Barack Obama [PDF]

U. S. National Space Policy (issued August 31, 2006, supplanting the previous policy from 1996, and remaining in effect until a new policy is adopted). Our favorite line: "Implement and sustain an innovative human and robotic exploration program with the objective of extending human presence across the solar system."

Video: Stephen Hawking speaks on "Why We Should Go Into Space" for NASA's 50th Anniversary lecture series at George Washington University, April 21, 2008. The presentation was in two parts which are seamlessly edited together in this 25-minute video (with transcript). Hawking advocates the colonization of the Moon and Mars.

NASA's Exploration Systems Architecture Study, 2005, 758 pages. This is the blueprint document for the Vision for Space Exploration. It provides system definition for (1) a Crew Exploration Vehicle, (2) launch systems to support crew and cargo for lunar and Mars exploration programs, (3) a reference lunar exploration architecture concept to support sustained human and robotic lunar exploration operations, and (4) key technologies required.

A Constrained Space Exploration Technology Program: A Review of NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program, National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008, 118 pages. In January 2004, President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), which instructed NASA to extend human presence across the solar system, starting with a human return to the Moon by the year 2020, in preparation for human exploration of Mars and other destinations, among other objectives. As acknowledged in the VSE, significant technology development will be necessary to accomplish the goals it articulates. NASA s Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) is designed to support, develop, and ultimately provide the necessary technologies to meet the goals of the VSE. This book, a review of the ETDP, is broadly supportive of the intent and goals of the VSE, and finds the ETDP is making progress towards the stated goals of technology development. However, the ETDP is operating within significant constraints which limit its ability to successfully accomplish those goals, the still dynamic nature of the Constellation Program requirements, the constraints imposed by a limited budget, the aggressive time scale of early technology deliverables, and the desire to fully employ the NASA workforce.

Mars Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Space Exploration Initiative, by Thor Hogan, NASA-SP4410, 2007, 194 pages [PDF 9.4 MB] [review]. The rise of Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and its eventual demise represents one of the landmark episodes in the history of the American space program. The story of this failed initiative is one shaped by key protagonists and critical battles. It is a tale of organizational, cultural, and personal confrontation. Skirmishes involved the Space Council versus NASA, the White House versus congressional appropriators, and the Johnson Space Center versus the rest of the space agency, all seeking control of the national space policy process. The demise of SEI was a classic example of a defective decision-making process that lacked adequate high-level policy guidance, failed to address critical fiscal constraints, developed inadequate programmatic alternatives, and garnered no congressional support. Some space policy experts have argued that SEI was doomed to fail, due primarily to the immense budgetary pressures facing the nation during the early 1990's. This book argues, however, that the failure of the initiative was not predetermined but was instead the result of a deeply flawed policy process that failed to develop (or even consider) policy options that may have been politically acceptable given the existing political environment. The author, Thor Hogan, is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Remembering the Space Age, edited by Steven J. Dick. NASA-SP4703, 2008, 480 pages [PDF 8.9 MB]. This book is an edited collection of 21 essays stemming from an October 2007 conference sponsored by the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space Museum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age. This book is not "just another space history" but instead examines the meaning of the Space Age in the broadest possible sense. It is an examination of the place of space exploration in human history and how the record of the Space Age has been preserved and represented in the wider culture. The essays cover a diverse range of topics from "Robert A. Heinlein's Influence on Spaceflight" to "Cosmonaut Nostalgia in Soviet and Post-Soviet Film" to "China's Human Spaceflight Program and Chinese National Identity" to "Cultural Functions of Space Exploration," and much more.

Societal Impact of Spaceflight, edited by Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius. NASA-SP4801, 2007, 695 pages [PDF 9.7 MB]. Fifty years after the Space age began, this conference proceedings examines the effects of spaceflight on society in a historically rigorous way. Has the Space age indeed had a significant effect on society? If so what are those influences? What do we mean by an "impact" on society? And what parts of society? Conversely, has society had any effect on spaceflight? What would be different had there been no Space Age? The purpose of this volume is to examine these and related questions through scholarly research, making use especially of the tools of the historian and the broader social sciences and humanities. Herein a stellar array of scholars does just that and arrives at sometimes surprising conclusions. Spaceflight has commercial and economic dimensions as well as social, cultural and ideological ramifications. It touches on enduring American values of pioneering, progress, enterprise and rugged individualism. Worldwide it encompasses international cooperation and competition, and affects foreign policies, national security, and questions of global environment. Viewing Earth from space, and space from the vicinity of Earth, alters world views, conceptions of self and others, and our understanding of our place and purpose in the universe.

Transcripts of speeches by John H. Marburger, III, former Science Advisor to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Bush administration:

44th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium Keynote Address, March 15, 2006: "Questions about the vision boil down to whether we want to incorporate the Solar System in our economic sphere, or not."
46th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium Keynote Address, March 6, 2008

Space 2030: Tackling Society's Challenges, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2005, 334 pages [PDF 3.6 MB off site]. This publication is the final report on a two-year OECD Futures Project devoted to the commercialization of space, the development of space infrastructure and the role to be played by public and private actors. The book explores the contribution space systems might make in dealing with looming societal challenges related to threats to the physical environment and the management of natural resources, growing mobility and its consequences, increasing security concerns, and the shift to the information society. In addition, it formulates an overall policy framework that OECD governments might use in drafting policies designed to ensure that the potential that space has to offer is actually realized. More info.

Space 2030: Exploring the Future of Space Applications, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2004, 240 pages [PDF 1.4 MB off site]. Where is the space sector heading now? What are the obstacles to its further development? What are its future prospects? What are the applications that are likely to be successful in the future? To answer these questions, this report adopted a scenario-based approach to explore the future evolution of major components of the space sector (military space, civil space, commercial space) over the next thirty years. It covers four major factors of change: geopolitical developments, socio-economic developments, energy and the environment, and technology. More info.

Report of the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, 2004, 64 pages [PDF 1.3 MB]. The Commission, which became known as the "Aldridge" Commission because it was chaired by Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr., was charged with making recommendations to the President on implementing the Vision for Space Exploration to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The report called for a transformation of NASA, building a robust international space industry, a discovery-based science agenda, and educational initiatives to support youth and teachers inspired by the vision. See summary article from Ad Astra.

Final Report of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, 2002. "The ability to access space and travel through the solar system in weeks or months instead of years would help create the imperative to do so. Propulsion and power are the key technologies to enable this capability. Future progress in these areas will result in new opportunities on Earth and open the solar system to robotic and human exploration and eventual colonization. The nation would benefit from a joint effort by NASA and DoD to reduce significantly the cost and time required to access and travel through space."

The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA's Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle by T. A. Heppenheimer. 470 pages, 1999. NASA SP-4221. NASA History Series: Volume 1 of The History of the Space Shuttle. This significant study of the decision to build the Space Shuttle explains the Shuttle's origins and early development. In addition to internal NASA discussions, this work details the debates in the late 1960s and early 1970s among policymakers in Congress, the Air Force, and the Office of Management and Budget over the roles and technical designs of the Shuttle. Examining the interplay of these organizations with sometimes conflicting goals, the author not only explains how the world's first reusable space launch vehicle came into being, but also how politics can interact with science, technology, national security, and economics in national government.

Reaching for the High Frontier: The American Pro-Space Movement, 1972-84, by Michael A. G. Michaud. 436 pages, 1986. This book provides an informal, capsule history of the pro-space movement in the United States from 1972 through 1984 and presents a simple analysis of American pro-space groups as an interest group phenomenon. A new generation of space advocates emerged, convinced that space holds answers to such real-world problems as economic growth, environmental degradation, international tension and the threat of nuclear war, and the need for a hopeful future. By the early 1980s, the groups formed were showing increasing political sophistication and entrepreneurship as they pursued both direct and indirect approaches to expanding human activity in space.

America at the Threshold - Report of the Synthesis Group on America's Space Exploration Initiative, 1991, 191 pages [PDF off site]. Known as the "Stafford" report after Chairman Thomas P. Stafford. The Synthesis Group was charged by Vice-President Quayle and NASA Administrator Richard Truly to seek out the best and most innovative ideas in the country. The report described four alternative architectures: (1) Mars exploration, (2) science emphasis for the Moon and Mars, (3) the Moon to stay and Mars exploration, and (4) space resource utilization.

Pioneering the Space Frontier - Report of the National Commission on Space, 1986, 214 pages. Appointed by President Reagan and chaired by former NASA Administrator Thomas Paine, the National Commission on Space was charged with recommending a civilian space program that would advance the broader goals of American society over the next century. The Commission recommended a new direction "to lead the exploration and development of the space frontier, advancing science, technology, and enterprise, and building institutions and systems that make accessible vast new resources and support human settlements beyond Earth orbit, from the highlands of the Moon to the plains of Mars."

America: A Spacefaring Nation Again - Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy, 1986. Written just after the loss of Challenger, this report proposed a Commercial Space Incentive Act whereby the United States would guarantee every year to pay $500 per pound for the first one million pounds placed into orbit by private US companies (to qualify, an orbital payload must be at least ten thousand pounds).

Space: The Crucial Frontier - Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy, 1981, 48 pages. The Citizens' Advisory Council was created in 1981 by joint action of the American Astronautical Society and the L5 Society for the purpose of developing a detailed and technically feasible space policy to further the national interest. The Council wrote: "The statesmen who lead mankind permanently to space will be remembered when Isabella the Great and Columbus are long forgotten."

United Nations Treaties and Principles on Outer Space [PDF 200 Kb] includes the full text of:

Treaty on Principles Governing Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies, 1967 ("Outer Space Treaty")
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts, and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, 1968 ("Rescue Agreement")
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, 1973 ("Liability Convention")
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, 1976 ("Registration Convention")
Treaty Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, 1979 ("Moon Treaty")

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