Stories discuss gays in the military, police recruitment, home health care, breast cancer, health insurance exchanges, alternative fuels, refinery taxes, alcohol prices, outer space debris, mental illness, diplomatic trends, and health care costs.
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.
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.
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.
Why have the costs of acquiring space systems been so high? What are the sources of the problems? To answer these questions, RAND researchers examined the sources of cost growth of Air Force space systems and undertook an extensive study of two space systems.
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.
''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.
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.
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.
As space systems age, the U.S. Air Force Space Command needs to understand how budgeting for the maintenance and sustainment of ground segments affects the performance of their associated space systems. New metrics and models can help this process.
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.
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.
With no breakthroughs likely in space propulsion or rocket design in the near future, a new family of space-launch vehicles developed for military payloads should satisfy all projected national security needs through 2020.
Presents a method for assessing Air and Space Expeditionary Force manpower and materiel deployment capabilities and a detailed description of software tools developed by RAND for quantifying deployment capabilities.
Japan's space program has seen a succession of satellite and launcher failures over the past decade, as well as decreases in funding and public support. Recent reorganization of the program will determine its future focus—civil or military.
