State of the Space Industrial Base 2022: Winning the New Space Race for Sustainability, Prosperity and the Planet
Abstract
At the conclusion of the 20th century, Americans identified scientific and technological advancements as the nations greatest achievements, with the space program as the most-cited source of American pride. The space program, and more specifically landing humans on the Moon, marked the 6culmination of a great power competition for space dominance with the former Soviet Union. The U.S. was able to triumph in the last space race because of a positive and unique relationship, a public private partnership, between the government and commercial industry. As a result of clarity of public purpose and private entrepreneurialism, the U.S. built a vibrant space ecosystem enabling it to be the first and only nation to send humans to the Moon, explore every planet in the Solar System, deliver free global positioning and timing, share Earth observation data globally for the benefit of humanity, create an international space station to facilitate global space development and engagement, achieve rocket reusability and ubiquitous commercial broadband communication. The world is freer and more prosperous for America having won the first space race against the first authoritarian space power, and having shaped an open system of commerce and information. Six decades later, U.S. leadership is once again contested by not one, but two authoritarian regimes, who seek to exert global dominance through control of the space domain.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1190754
Entities
People
- Eric Felt
- John M Olsen
- Steven J. Butow
- Thomas Cooley
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory