Space Policy Now

13 January 2015

History of Space Policy

• 4 Oct 1957: Sputnik I launched– Shock waves throughout free world, esp USA

• Part of Cold War competition in ideology and military capability– Near hysteria followed– Eyes looking down on us!– Ham radio followed sputnik signals– Presaged ‘bombs from space’

• Bush Report (1945): Science - the Endless Frontier

• Government supplies funds to universities, foundations, research centers

• Bargain: – Gov’t supports science for the public good– Basic research provides raw material for progress,

public good (e.g., ONR, AEC, NIH)

• This requires iewstrategic planning, competition, selection, federal funding and re

Questions

• What is science?

• What is policy?

• Who knows best?

Science• A process that supplies repeatable truth about

the universe– Search for truth and new knowledge

• Scientific method is over-simplified!• Not the same as technology• Basic research leads to applied research, which

leads to development• Example: Manhattan Project’s development of

atomic bomb was based on basic and applied physics research

Policy

• The way that resources are used: Follow the money (as in the Watergate scandal)

• Space activities are expensive, only the richest nations can afford it

Tension or conflict?

• Science is generally free and open… remember Galileo and his telescope

• But science policy involves incentives for discovery that will meet national and political goals

• Policy is highly visible, costly, value-laden, and open to public debate

• This naturally involves controversy and disputes

Space Science Elements

• Individual scientists and teams• Robotic and human space missions• Astronauts and politicians• Strategic plans and decisions• Balance big and small missions

More Tensions

• Who knows best, scientists or politicians?• Having a ‘strategy’ means we can’t have a

‘democracy’: only some activities are sponsored

• NASA budget is flat, but $19B is still a lot of money (even the small fraction that comes to Colorado is significant)