Future of US space industry in Obama's hands
By Brendan Sobie
Space funding will be a key early decision for the Barack Obama administration as industry challenges the new president to commit to a more stable funding stream or risk falling behind other countries.
The Aerospace Industries Association, which last week published a report outlining several recommendations the new administration should follow for the space sector to stay competitive, says it is confident Obama will recognise the value of space to the US economy and national security. AIA president Marion Blakey describes discussions held so far with the incoming administration as "very healthy" and "we have had indications now that space funding isn't at serious risk".
Specifically, she says Obama has talked about providing in the current fiscal year budget a few billion dollars beyond the initial authorisation of $19.2 billion for NASA, plus an additional $1 billion for the Orion-Ares programme. But she says it is important for the administration to not only include spaceflight as part of its economic stimulus package, but make long-term commitments.
ROBUST AND STABLE FUNDING
"It's stability that will make the difference in these multi-year, multi-phase programmes," Blakey says. "We do need a national budget that provides robust and stable funding. Without that you have disruptions that could be very difficult for these highly complex programmes, which after all are rocket science."
If steady funding is not provided at what it calls a critical juncture, the AIA warns that gaps in capability will quickly develop and the USA could be unseated as the world's spaceflight leader. "The chances are good the next boots on the Moon will be others, probably the Chinese," Blakey says. "These are issues that need to be addressed."
Lockheed Martin vice-president of Washington operations Eric Thoemmes adds: "We do need to restore stability quickly. We shouldn't be on a never-ending type of review."
CO-ORDINATION BODY
In addition to advocating a more stable funding stream, the new AIA report recommends the establishment of a body to co-ordinate national space strategy across the civil, commercial and defence sectors. Blakey says the new body, which would be similar to the National Space Council that operated for several decades but has been inactive since the early 1990s, should report directly to the president.
The AIA also wants further reform of export controls. AIA vice-president space policy J P Stevens says this will be "a big focus" of the association this year because the fact that basic commercial satellite technology still cannot be exported "has really given us a disadvantage" with "foreign companies building their own satellites, totally staying away from US suppliers".
Blakey applauded improvements by the Bush administration in reducing the backlog for export licence applications, but adds: "You still have the fundamental issue of does the overall munitions list have the right technologies on it at this point?"
© Reed Business Information 2009
