View Is the White House Planning to Hold the Space Station Hostage? By G. Ryan Faith PublishedMarch 1, 2019 What does the future hold for the International Space Station? Space policy consultant G. Ryan Faith argues that the executive and legislative branches must work together to ensure a successful transition after the Station is retired.
View How Does Space Policy Directive-4 Reorganize U.S. Military Space Operations? By Kaitlyn Johnson PublishedFebruary 20, 2019 CSIS defense expert Kaitlyn Johnson breaks down the long-anticipated Space Policy Directive-4, which announced the formal creation of the U.S. Space Force on February 19, 2019.
View Bad Idea: Conflating the Space Force with NASA By Kaitlyn Johnson PublishedDecember 21, 2018 As the administration moves forward with establishing a new military service focused on space, leaders should keep their language clear and use this opportunity to educate the public about both civil and national security space.
View So What’s the Big Deal About Mars InSight? By Sean O'Keefe PublishedDecember 3, 2018 Why go to Mars? The InSight vehicle is designed to examine the Mars interior—its core and crust—to learn how the planetary formations may have been different from ours and look for evidence of seismic or other events that may explain its hellish reality today.
View A Space Force is Worth the Price By Todd Harrison PublishedNovember 27, 2018 We should not wait for a Pearl Harbor in space to realize we need to reorganize and elevate space as a co-equal branch of the military. Just as the Air Force was worth the disruption and additional costs more than 70 years ago, a Space Force is worth the price today.
View How Much Will the Space Force Cost? By Todd Harrison PublishedNovember 19, 2018 This report provides rough estimates for the number of personnel, annual budget, and additional funding that would be needed for a U.S. Space Force.
View What Can 24 Satellites Do for U.S. Missile Defense? By Thomas G. Roberts PublishedOctober 18, 2018 Despite some missile defense advocates’ claims that 24 satellites could form the basis of a boost-phase space-based missile interceptor (SBI) system, many physicists do not agree. A better question is how could a satellite constellation of this size best contribute to U.S. missile defense?
View U.S. Missile Defense and the Theater-Strategic Nexus By Ryan Fedasiuk PublishedOctober 17, 2018 As it stands, the planned strategy of forsaking arms control in the name of coercive diplomacy is bound to backfire. The Pentagon should tread carefully, lest it invites Russia to develop strategic weapons it has no method or intention of countering.
View Why a Space Force Can Wait By Kaitlyn Johnson PublishedOctober 3, 2018 Establishing a Department of the Space Force by 2020 is rushing into an end solution without proper consideration. Although there have been several space reorganization studies in the past two decades, a comprehensive public debate of our current space capabilities and their organization is just beginning.
View Why We Need a Space Force By Todd Harrison PublishedOctober 3, 2018 Space capabilities are already an indispensable component of U.S. military power. A Space Force is needed to consolidate authority and responsibility for national security space; to build a robust cadre of space professionals; and to avoid the conflicts of interest inherent in the other Services that have short-changed space programs for decades.
