Space Policy in the 21st Century edited by W. Henry Lambright. Johns Hopkins University Press (http://www.press.jhu.edu), 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, 2003, 272 pages, $49.95 (hardcover).
Space Policy in the 21st Century is not really about space policy in the twenty-first century. It is about a far more specialized topic—civil space (i.e., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA])—in an increasingly distant (in substance as well as time) era: the end of the twentieth century. Although the book carries a copyright date of 2003, it is clear that the writing of its nine articles predates two important events in the national space arena: (1) September 11, 2001, and (2) the loss of space shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. This combination of too narrow a scope and a focus on yesterday’s issues serves to make this collection more historical artifact than useful guide to contemporary national space policy.
The book’s primary shortcoming is its almost exclusive focus on civil space; it gives short shrift to commercial space ventures and virtually no attention to national-security space activities. This is particularly frustrating in the post-9/11 and post-Columbia environment. This book treats NASA and its missions as the centerpiece of national space policy, whereas a central issue in today’s broader space-policy circles is, indeed, the very relevance of NASA, which finds itself on the verge of being squeezed out between commercial endeavors on the one side and national-security pursuits on the other.
The global positioning system is a case in point. This technological wonder that enables precision warfare and also provides the bedrock for civil navigation and even financial transactions worldwide receives minuscule attention here. Similarly, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, which saw two successful maiden flights by separate launch providers in 2002 and which may be (in the post-Columbia era) man-rated for NASA missions in the years to come, is not even mentioned in the chapter on “Space Access.” Even more surreal is Ronald J. Deibert’s claim in his chapter regarding future uses for remote sensing that “the one [use] that is likely to generate the greatest need for satellite monitoring technologies in decades to come is studies of global warming and climate change” (p. 97). If only, in the post-9/11 world, this could truly be our greatest information-collection need!
Ironically, the chapters least anachronized by 9/11 and Columbia are those that would likely have been considered most fanciful at the turn of this century (e.g., Daniel H. Deudney’s treatise on asteroid utilization and avoidance and Christopher F. Chyba’s discussion of the search for extraterrestrial life). The book winds up with commentaries by John M. Logsdon and Howard E. McCurdy; these relatively skeptical assessments on the future of NASA programs, also somewhat dated, at least seem prescient in their cautionary themes.
Even in the late twentieth century, NASA could hardly be considered the solitary leader of national space policy; this truth is only more pronounced in the aftermath of 9/11 and Columbia. Despite the wishful thinking that runs in torrents through these pages, the real space-policy questions, for the foreseeable future, will address partnering by the Department of Defense (DOD)/NASA/industry to attain assured access, employing space capabilities to meet national-security needs, and strengthening space industry. Such questions will include the following: How can the DOD and NASA best partner to develop true assured access to space? What balance of regulation of commercial space activities will preserve security (both national and industrial) while maximizing commercial growth and investment? What are the proper technology road maps to produce space capabilities that will meet future national-security needs, future commercial-infrastructure demands, and space-exploration objectives? Readers looking for possible answers to these contemporary questions will not find them in this book. What they will find is history: musings on the future of NASA from a more lighthearted era.
Maj John E. Shaw, USAF
Maxwell AFB, Alabama
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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