On Monday, President Obama unveiled the administration’s new National Space Policy. The National Space Policy expresses the President’s direction for the Nation’s space activities.
Central to the new National Space Police is the U.S.’s commitment to further international cooperation, in the belief that, with U.S. reinvigorated leadership, all nations will find their horizons broadened, their knowledge enhanced and their lives greatly improved.
Other key elements of the administration’s National Space Policy include:
- Recognition by the U.S. of the rights of all countries to access, use and explore space for peaceful purposes and for the benefit of all humanity.
- A call from the U.S. that all nations commit to act responsibly in space to prevent mishaps, mis-perceptions and mistrust.
- Development of a robust and competitive industrial base, including the U.S. government’s use of commercial launches and investment in new and advanced technologies.
- The U.S. will use commercial space products and services and invest in new and advanced technologies and will use a broad array of partnerships with industry to promote innovation.
- NASA will undertake a program of human and robotic exploration and develop new technologies for more affordable human exploration.
- The Agency will partner with private sector to enable commercial spaceflights to transport crew and cargo to the International Space Station and begin human missions to new destinations like Mars by 2020.
- The US will utilize information from space systems to study and monitor climate change and the Earth’s solar system.
NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden, in reacting to the new National Space Policy said, in part:
“The new space policy sets our nation on a path to develop the next generation of capabilities we will need to live and work in space. Human and robotic exploration will flourish and bring a wealth of economic and scientific dividends. We will reach new horizons of discovery and expand the reach of humans throughout the solar system.”
Bolden added:
“This policy embraces the historical roles of the agency, such as research and development of launch systems, robotic missions to destinations throughout the solar system, and Earth science, including climate change.
“But it also challenges NASA to embrace new roles and areas of emphasis, such as enhancing use of the International Space Station, identifying and characterizing of near-Earth objects, and eliminating or limiting orbital debris and its danger to spacecraft.”
