The Space Enterprise Initiative is a new one-stop shop for space research and related activities across RAND.
Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA
The initiative builds on long-standing RAND relationships across the national and international space domains to marshal the broad perspectives necessary for optimizing the exercise of space power.
As the United States has become increasingly reliant on space-based capabilities, protecting them has become vital to national security, especially in the face of China's ambitions for superiority in space. Considering the application of classical deterrence theory to the space domain, the authors show how and why China's own objectives should be considered in building a tailored deterrence strategy for China in space.
The past two decades have seen the start of a New Space Era characterized by more spacefaring nations and companies and a growing risk of collisions and conflict, yet the basic mechanisms for governing space activities have only marginally changed since their creation 50 years ago. The authors of this Perspective assess problem areas and barriers to progress and offer suggestions to improve space governance and responsible space behavior.
The 6th annual West Coast Aerospace Forum in December 2020 featured discussions between some of the Department of the Air Force's most senior and experienced leaders and top civilian national security experts. The theme of this event was "An Aerospace Vision for the Future." Topics included the future shape of the world order, the U.S. defense budget outlook, the changing national security landscape, and the new National Defense Strategy.
A panel discussion hosted by the RAND Space Enterprise Initiative tackles issues related to the global space launch enterprise. The panel of RAND Corporation experts joined Brigadier General D. Jason Cothern to consider how U.S. Space Force decisions affect domestic launch providers, how recent trends affect future strategies and policies for responsive space launch, and the capabilities and limitations of U.S. space launch facilities.
The Space Enterprise Vision (SEV) describes an integrated approach to building a force across space mission areas. Achieving this vision requires reducing acquisition time lines and improving integration of the space enterprise. The research team examined potential acquisition approaches to support SEV and identified several promising ones that merit in-depth examination: modular open system architectures, agile acquisition, rapid prototyping.
