US government policy - the major factor shaping the international commercial space launch marketplace

In this Viewpoint — an edited version of a statement made to the US House Committee on Science's Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics' hearing on ‘US launch strategy’ — the President of Arianespace, Inc analyses the overriding importance of US government policies and executive decisions on the shaping and behavior of the international market in commercial space launch services. Chief among these is the overruling of commercial imperatives by foreign policy and national security interests and the consequent regular intervention of the US government in launch decisions. The ability of Arianespace successfully to compete in a market severely distorted as a result of these interventions, including the encouragement of joint ventures between US and Russian or Ukrainian companies, is explained.     

Can the demos make a difference? Prospects for participatory democracy in shaping the future course of US space exploration

US space exploration policy deliberations tend not to include citizens who lack direct, vested financial interests in the space enterprise. Could expanding the circle of US space policy development players to involve citizens more aptly serve space exploration and the interests of American democratic society in the 21st century? I evaluate the merits and feasibility of citizen participation, drawing upon democratic theory and scholarship analyzing public participation in techno-scientific matters, previous experiences of public involvement in space exploration policy formation, and reflections on my professional experiences in space policy development. I argue that public engagement will enrich the debate surrounding the US future in space and may point toward a program American citizens will support as a meaningful future in the cosmos. I suggest three guiding principles and outline four mechanisms that, if embraced by US space policy makers, could foster meaningful public participation in informing the US space exploration agenda.     

Thoracic sonography for pneumothorax: the clinical evaluation of an operational space medicine spin-off

The recent interest in the use of ultrasound (US) to detect pneumothoraces after acute trauma in North America was initially driven by an operational space medicine concern. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are at risk for pneumothoraces, and US is the only potential medical imaging available. Pneumothoraces are common following trauma, and are a preventable cause of death, as most are treatable with relatively simple interventions. While pneumothoraces are optimally diagnosed clinically, they are more often inapparent even on supine chest radiographs (CXR) with recent series reporting a greater than 50% rate of occult pneumothoraces. In the course of basic scientific investigations in a conventional and parabolic flight laboratory, investigators familiarized themselves with the sonographic features of both pneumothoraces and normal pulmonary ventilation. By examining the visceral–parietal pleural interface (VPPI) with US, investigators became confident in diagnosing pneumothoraces. This knowledge was subsequently translated into practice at an American and a Canadian trauma center. The sonographic examination was found to be more accurate and sensitive than CXR (US 96% and 100% versus US 74% and 36%) in specific circumstances. Initial studies have also suggested that detecting the US features of pleural pulmonary ventilation in the left lung field may offer the ability to exclude serious endotracheal tube malpositions such as right mainstem and esophageal intubations. Applied thoracic US is an example of a clinically useful space medicine spin-off that is improving health care on earth.     

US and Soviet ballistic missile defence programmes : Implications for the 1972 ABM treaty

This article reviews the key provisions of the ABM Treaty and the major issues of interpretation which need to be resolved. The various phases of the US Strategic Defense Initiative are discussed, showing that permitted SDI research may cross over the prohibited development and testing beginning in 1988. Cooperative research with US allies is discussed in terms of the Treaty constraints. US and Soviet ballistic missile defence programmes are summarized and the major US and Soviet compliance issues, including the Krasnoyarsk radar, are reviewed. The author argues that limitations on defensive systems remain a precondition to limitations on offensive systems. The ABM Treaty should be enhanced by agreed interpretations, a separate ASAT treaty, and perhaps four amendments to the ABM Treaty.     

Towards a coherent remote sensing data policy

Access to space-based remote sensing data is critical for Earth science and the study of global change. This article summarizes a variety of US government Earth science data policies and problems. The authors examine current efforts to develop data policies for the next generation of US remote sensing programmes, noting likely problems based on past experiences. They argue that the goal of US Earth science data policy should be to provide the widest possible dissemination of data. Setting such a goal permits the development of a simple, coherent data policy that serves scientific, commercial and US government interests.     

Change and continuity in US space policy

2010 saw both the unveiling of a new US National Space Policy and the announcement of a fundamentally different strategy for US human spaceflight that would move from the NASA-government-led Apollo-style approach to a greater reliance on the private sector and international cooperation. This viewpoint puts forward arguments on why change in the US approach to human spaceflight is needed, while acknowledging that achieving it in the face of vested interests and threats to jobs and livelihoods is extremely difficult. It suggests that greater US recognition of the need to ensure the sustainability of space activity (by addressing debris, radio-frequency interference and potential deliberate disruption of spacecraft), and an apparent willingness to countenance international norms to govern space activities, could be the new policy’s most lasting heritage.     

美国空间对抗装备的新进展

简要介绍了美国空间对抗装备的最新发展情况.着重分析了美国近期重点关注的空间武器.指出天基空间态势感知装备、天基反卫反导武器和激光反卫星武器将是美国空间对抗装备的发展方向.     

Rebuilding US launch capabilities

Attempts to rebuild US commercial launch capabilities through stimulating private industry will be constrained by the fact that free-market competition does not really exist in the space industry. As the worldwide supply of launch vehicles grows, the policy now offered by the US government is only likely to fragment the US space launch vehicle industry. The author argues in favour of a proposal to establish a quasi-governmental corporation for space launches which would both safeguard the interests of government and commercial users and ensure that business acumen was applied.     

美国空间对抗装备与技术发展研究

美国作为空间第一大国,近年来军事空间实力发展迅速,其空间对抗能力与日俱增.详细分析了美国空间对抗装备与技术的发展现状、特点以及今后的发展方向.在此基础上,对美国空间对抗的发展态势和思路进行了研究.     

International cooperation and competition in civilian space activities

This article considers how the USA can best maintain its commercial and governmental competitiveness in space, while facilitating private investment and international marketing, and at the same time keeping up significant cooperation with other nations. The current state of US civilian space activities in each of these areas is summarized, and several alternative solutions are presented. The article concludes that strengthening US competition with other space-capable nations, and improving US ability to cooperate effectively, will require careful coordination of the activities of federal agencies with each other and with the private sector.     

The Space Shuttle—Evaluating an American icon

The Space Transportation System (STS), for better or worse, has dominated the US space program for some 30 years and is now an American icon. The Space Shuttle orbiters have flown over 120 missions and certainly accomplished some amazing feats, including the deployment of the International Space Station (ISS), the launch and double repair of the Hubble Telescope, a number of classified missions for the US defense establishment and the cementing of international cooperation in space. As the remaining Space Shuttle orbiters head toward various museums, it is timely to look at the STS program in terms of key US space policy decisions that have paralleled the Space Shuttle’s often troubled history. This article seeks, from both a historical and a policy perspective, to assess what might have been. While noting the major accomplishments of the STS, it also identifies what can best be characterized as major lost opportunities and flawed policy decisions that have had multi-billion dollar consequences. In this regard, the US Congress, the White House, and NASA leadership have all played a role. If there have been failings, they have not been by NASA alone, but the entire US space policy leadership.     

The USA and the 1985 space WARC

This article considers the US policy objectives at the forthcoming WARC-ORB 85 Conference, and argues that with US willingness to modify its position the Conference seems for the first time to provide a good basis for a dialogue between the USA and those countries that feel the existing system is not equitable. Two main problems still need to be considered: the role of common user organizations such as INTELSAT, and the relationship between the Federal Communications Commission and other actors involved in the US international telecommunication decision-making process. Failure to reach agreement at the conference could lead to the USA being the country which suffers most.     

美军电子战试验场

详细介绍美军电子战试验场的功能、分布、所使用的装备等,以及根据时代的变革和技术的发展,美国防部对试验场作了战略调整的方向,从而进一步认识到电子战试验场的重要性。     

Satellite vulnerability: a post-Cold War issue?

The widely discussed use of US reconnaissance satellites during the Gulf War will strongly motivate future regional adversaries to seek ways of countering US space-based assets. The presumption that reconnaissance satellites can operate covertly is obsolete. Tracking US reconnaissance satellites can provide valuable support to a hostile country's concealment and deception programs. Iraq's ability to conceal both major weapons programs and many SCUD launchers is a warning of the serious consequences such programs can have. Space surveillance systems of the type likely to be acquired by Third World countries are inconspicuous and may well go undetected, while direct ascent ASAT rockets are within the reach of many countries. This article argues that fundamental reexamination of the functions and architecture of US overhead reconnaissance is needed, and should be done outside the traditional Cold War bureaucratic structures.     

美国导弹防御系统发展及对国际军控影响研究

大力推进导弹防御系统(MD)的研制和部署是美谋求绝对优势的重要举措。系统分析了美国导弹防御系统(BMDS)发展的基本态势和未来走向,以及其对国际军备控制的影响。     

Alice in Licenseland: US satellite export controls since 1990

The events leading up to the convening of the Cox Committee by the US Congress in 1998, and those following the declassification of its report in 1999, have had a significant worldwide impact on the US export licensing process. US laws that were once business-friendly have become more stringent to accommodate national security concerns, but with no differentiation between potential adversaries and allies. Whether the change will actually be able to achieve the intended national security goals is uncertain, especially since many of the new measures taken differ from the actual recommendations of the Cox report. In the meantime, international aerospace commerce has become encumbered by rules at best ambiguous, at worst counterproductive.     

The 2010 US space policy: A view from Europe

The authors examine the principles, goals and guidelines in the new US NSP. While in general favourable to the overall direction of the policy, noting that Europe too has similar goals or, in some cases, should be adopting US ideas, they are sceptical about certain aspects, such as the greater emphasis on commercial partnerships with NASA and the continuing protectionist launch policy. Particular points of concern are the vagueness and lack of clear goals in the human spaceflight programme and the US position on space weaponization at the Conference on Disarmament. Nevertheless, they believe that a similar type of EU-wide policy should be developed by the European Commission.     

Intuitive ultrasonography for autonomous medical care in limited-resource environments

Management of health problems in limited resource environments, including spaceflight, faces challenges in both available equipment and personnel. The medical support for spaceflight outside Low Earth Orbit is still being defined; ultrasound (US) imaging is a candidate since trials on the International Space Station (ISS) prove that this highly informative modality performs very well in spaceflight. Considering existing estimates, authors find that US could be useful in most potential medical problems, as a powerful factor to mitigate risks and protect mission. Using outcome-oriented approach, an intuitive and adaptive US image catalog is being developed that can couple with just-in-time training methods already in use, to allow non-expert crew to autonomously acquire and interpret US data for research or diagnosis.The first objective of this work is to summarize the experience in providing imaging expertise from a central location in real time, enabling data collection by a minimally trained operator onsite. In previous investigations, just-in-time training was combined with real-time expert guidance to allow non-physician astronauts to perform over 80 h of complex US examinations on ISS, including abdominal, cardiovascular, ocular, musculoskeletal, dental/sinus, and thoracic exams. The analysis of these events shows that non-physician crew-members, after minimal training, can perform complex, quality US examinations. These training and guidance methods were also adapted for terrestrial use in professional sporting venues, the Olympic Games, and for austere locations including Mt. Everest.The second objective is to introduce a new imaging support system under development that is based on a digital catalog of existing sample images, complete with image recognition and acquisition logic and technique, and interactive multimedia reference tools, to guide and support autonomous acquisition, and possibly interpretation, of images without real-time link with a human expert. In other words, we are attempting to replace, to the extent possible, expert guidance by guidance from a digital information resource. This is a next logical phase of the authors’ sustained effort to make US imaging available to sites lacking proper expertise. This effort will benefit NASA as the agency plans to develop future human exploration programs requiring increased medical autonomy. The new system will be readily adaptable to terrestrial medicine including emergency, rural, and military applications.     

Principles for pioneers

The US National Commission on Space has recently issued its report, Pioneering the Space Frontier. As the US Founding Fathers laid down the basic principles which are the foundation of US society, the Commission has articulated certain basic principles which reflect the fundamental values of the American people. These principles lay the basis for the Commission's vision of space exploration and settlement and its benefits for the USA and all of humankind.     

Commercial space development

A panel session on ‘Creative approaches to commercial joint ventures in space’ took place at the American Society of Public Administration National Conference, 28 March 1 April 1987. This report highlights the comments made by the panelists¹ on the steps NASA and US industry can take together to ensure US space leadership.