Rice Experts Identify Threats to Long-Term U.S. Interests in Space

The United States must bolster the competitiveness of its commercial space industry, expand international cooperation, and refocus on basic science to hold on to its traditional leadership position in space, according to a paper that Rice’s George Abbey and Neal Lane wrote for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

George Abbey and Neal Lane.

In “United States Space Policy: Challenges and Opportunities,” Abbey and Lane identify three important shifts in U.S. plans as threats to the nation’s long-term scientific interests in space: proposals by the military to place weapons in space, decreased funding for civilian space science, and an unwillingness to collaborate with international partners on space initiatives. The study also finds that changes in export-control policies, which now require all satellites to be regulated as munitions, have led to significant market-share losses for U.S. suppliers in recent years, threatening the long-term viability of the U.S. commercial satellite industry.

“America has long been considered by nations around the world to be the unchallenged leader in all aspects of its space program,” wrote Abbey and Lane. But, they warned, “the future vitality of America’s space program is in question.”

Abbey, senior fellow in space policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, is former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Lane, the Malcolm Gillis University Professor, senior fellow in science and technology at the Baker Institute, and professor of physics and astronomy at Rice, is a former assistant to the president of the United States for science and technology, former director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, and former director of the National Science Foundation.

“Government leaders are making decisions about U.S. space policy that will affect not only national security but also the ability of the United States to successfully compete with other countries in the commercial use of space and to maintain a leadership role in space exploration, science and engineering, and technology,” the co-authors said. Though their assessment reveals significant obstacles to the continued success of the U.S. space industry and space science, Abbey and Lane believe these obstacles are surmountable, and they offer recommendations for realigning U.S. space policy to advance national interests.

Foremost among their recommendations are the promotion of international cooperation on space-related activities and the realignment of national objectives for space science and exploration with international agreements. “International cooperation in space will be crucial,” they said, “if we are to reap the benefits of scientific research and human exploration.”

The paper was commissioned as part of the Reconsidering the Rules of Space project, which is directed by the academy’s Committee on International Security Studies and supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. More information about the project and about the Committee on International Security Studies is available at www.amacad.org/projects/space.aspx, and the full text of the paper is available at www.bakerinstitute.org.