Transportation, Space, and Technology Program
Technological innovation is central to counterterrorism, critical infrastructures like transportation and energy systems, space enterprise, and nearly every other aspect of society. The Transportation, Space, and Technology Program manages research on new technologies and their implications for the nation and the world. Projects in this program focus on transportation systems and regulation, ports, space exploration, information and telecommunications technologies and regulation, federal research and development allocation, and social implications of emerging technologies.
If the “user pays” idea is worth saving, the United States needs a different calculation, writes Liisa Ecola. Some states are looking at mileage fees. With mileage fees, you pay based on the number of miles you drive, rather than the number of gallons of gas used.
Mileage-fee rates could be structured to reduce congestion, harmful emissions and excessive road wear, and the enabling technology could support a range of value-added services offering greater convenience and safety for motorists, writes Keith Crane.
Even in the face of a budgetary spending cap and the ever-looming possibility of new cuts, NASA continues investing in a robust and diverse human spaceflight program. But with fiscal uncertainty expected to continue, it should consider reordering its spending priorities.
Solving the problem of space debris isn't going to be an easy problem to solve because, like spilled petroleum products, debris can spend years lurking in an environment that is foreign to most people's daily lives, write Dave Baiocchi and William Welser.
Considering the challenges associated with continued growth and demographic changes, the government of Qatar is interested in updating its school transportation system (STS). This volume assesses the perspectives of parents and school administrators, identifies a vision for the STS, and discusses strategies to achieve it.
RAND Europe is expanding the original traffic model it developed for Copenhagen to include time-of-day choice for car drivers. Doing so will allow city planners to assess the effectiveness of different charging policies aimed at reducing congestion levels.
The UK Migration Advisory Committee asked RAND Europe to examine how migration is likely to impact transport networks and congestion. The resulting research is one of the first studies using UK data to provide an empirical evidence base about migrants' travel behavior and impacts.
On May 14, 2009, Titus Galama discussed the reality of U.S. competitiveness in science and technology and whether gains by China, India, and other nations are affecting America's chances of remaining a scientific leader.
It has become clear that Stuxnet-like worms pose a serious threat even to critical U.S. infrastructure and computer systems that are not connected to the Internet. However, defending against such attacks involves complex technological and legal issues.
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