Aerospace

All Items (269)

Commentary

Kill the Space Launch System to Save Human Spaceflight — Apr 1, 2013

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.

Commentary

The Effects of Celestial Events Go Beyond Their Impact — Feb 20, 2013

While the event in Russia was caused by a medium-sized (10,000-ton) meteor, larger objects, like the asteroid 2012 DA14 that also passed near Earth last week, have the potential to be significantly more damaging, write Dave Baiocchi and William Welser.

Commentary

Intelsat Crash a Setback for Space Lift Competition — Feb 12, 2013

Sea Launch's recent failure means more than just a lost payload and revenue for Intelsat: It means the status quo for launch services will continue for a while longer, write Dave Baiocchi and William Welser.

Journal Article

Detecting Ionospheric TEC Perturbations Caused by Natural Hazards Using a Global Network of GPS Receivers: The Tohoku Case Study — Dec 1, 2012

Recent advances in GPS data processing have demonstrated that ground-based GPS receivers are capable of detecting ionospheric TEC perturbations caused by surface-generated Rayleigh, acoustic and gravity waves.

Commentary

Should Boeing Fear the PRC's Aerospace Industry? Not in This Decade but Maybe Later — May 13, 2012

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China will probably begin producing its first large commercial aircraft later this decade. But the C919 is unlikely to be technologically or commercially competitive when it arrives, writes Chad J. R. Ohlandt.

Report

Actualizing Flexible National Security Space Systems — Nov 15, 2011

Three essays that address some of the challenges associated with improving the flexibility of National Security Space capabilities.

Report

Pricing Strategies for NASA Wind-Tunnel Facilities — Oct 4, 2011

The authors explore six potential approaches to pricing the use of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wind-tunnel test facilities, and they evaluate each approach against three criteria -- efficiency, fiscal impact, and fairness.

Report

Ready for Takeoff: China's Advancing Aerospace Industry — Mar 24, 2011

China's current and projected aerospace market demand, domestic production capabilities, and foreign participation, and their implications for U.S. interests.

Report

Advancing Aeronautics: A Decision Framework for Selecting Research Agendas — Feb 17, 2011

Develops a unified decisionmaking approach for selecting aeronautics research agendas that quantifies the social and economic reasons for the research, balances competing perspectives, and enables transparent explanation of the resulting decisions.

Journal Article

Update to The Sigma Scan — Jan 1, 2011

This external publication is an online database of short Horizon Scanning Centre think-pieces. RAND Europe updated 25% of the papers on this database, to incorporate more recent policy issues, evidence, and developments.

Report

Orbital Debris Poses a Growing Threat to Satellites in Space — Nov 18, 2010

Orbital debris represents a threat to the operation of man-made objects in space, such as satellite television and weather satellites. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of objects greater than one centimeter in diameter in Earth's orbit.

Report

Potential Effects of Chinese Aerospace Capabilities on U.S. Air Force Operations — May 12, 2010

Testimony presented before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on May 20, 2010.

Commentary

Space: The Final Junkyard? — Apr 2, 2009

Celestial real estate is increasingly popular. All in all more than 900 satellites, along with tens of thousands of bits of man-made space detritus, jockey for elbow room overhead. The result: a growing threat our atmosphere will soon become so crowded with floating junk as to become almost unusable, write Caroline Reilly and Peter D. Zimmerman.

Report

An Update of the Nation's Long-Term Strategic Needs for NASA's Aeronautics Test Facilities — Jan 1, 2009

The ability to develop aeronautical vehicles continues to rely on the capabilities of large government test facilities, and 26 NASA facilities continue to serve those needs, but national reliance and consolidation remains the next opportunity.

Report

Improving the Cost Estimation of Space Systems: Past Lessons and Future Recommendations — Jul 25, 2008

Analyzes the reason for the comparatively high growth in the cost of space systems by means of an in-depth study of two systems: SBIRS-High and GPS.

Report

Guidelines and Metrics for Assessing Space System Cost Estimates — Jan 12, 2008

A handbook to help analysts assess cost estimates of space systems.

Report

Opportunities Created by GPS for U.S. Defense, Commercial, and Foreign Policy Interests — Dec 7, 2007

Since the Global Positioning System (GPS) was originally deployed to aid U.S. armed forces in navigation and position location, it has evolved into a resource supporting civil, scientific, and commercial functions—from air traffic control to the Internet—with precision location and timing information.

Report

Planets for Man — Oct 9, 2007

Endeavors to determine -- on the basis of then-current biological and cosmological knowledge -- whether there are other worlds where man can survive or where human life may even now be flourishing.

Report

Habitable Planets for Man — Oct 8, 2007

''Habitable Planets for Man'' examines and estimates the probabilities of finding planets habitable to human beings, where they might be found, and the number there may be in our own galaxy.

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