Commentary
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
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
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
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.
Report
Three essays that address some of the challenges associated with improving the flexibility of National Security Space capabilities.
Journal Article
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 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.
Commentary
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
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
A handbook to help analysts assess cost estimates of space systems.
Report
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
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'' 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.
Report
Seminal guide from 1958 on the uses and characteristics of space systems, including astronautics and its applications, technology, rocket vehicles, propulsion systems, propellants, internal power sources, guidance, communication, and more.
Report
Space assets are vital to the economic, social, and military interests of the United States. Sustainment complexities suggest a need to define a AFSPC commandwide sustainment philosophy separating demand, supply, and integrator processes.
Report
Outlines criteria for analyzing how sustainment investments affect the operational performance of space systems, focusing on the Global Positioning System.
Report
This monograph presents findings of a RAND Project AIR FORCE research project documenting lessons learned from the implementation of evolutionary acquisition (EA) strategies on major Defense Department military space programs.
News Release
August 16, 2006 News Release: New Family of Space-Launch Vehicles Likely to Meet National Security Needs Through 2020, But No Commercial Cost-Sharing Is Likely.
Report
Summarizes the findings of the National Security Space Launch Requirements Panel's yearlong research and its subsequent findings and recommendations.
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