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NASA in Transition?

By IGI Global on May 20, 2011
Space travel and the resulting technologies have had a vast impact on society. Mr. Elliot Holokauahi Pulham, Chief Executive Officer for the international Space Foundation recently testified before a Senate subcommittee that he felt that the space economy today is dominated by the commercial sector, not government. "Over the past six years, the global space economy has grown by 48 percent – from $164 billion in 2004 to $276 billion in 2010," testified Mr. Pulham, according to his prepared statement (pdf). "Commercial satellite services and commercial satellite infrastructure together accounted for some $189 billion in 2010– nearly 70 percent of total space activity," he argued, classifying space activity as "heavily commercial."

Dr. Christopher F. Chyba, also testifying before the Senate subcommittee, outlined some of the Augustine Committee report's 2009 recommendations for the future of human spaceflight. (Prof. Chyba is part of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.) The Human Spaceflight Committee report, said Prof. Chyba—who spoke in an individual capacity—called "for the government's space agency to concentrate on the hardest technological problems associated with our goals in space flight," according to his prepared statement (pdf). "For the rest, including sending astronauts into low-Earth orbit, the commercial sector should play a bigger role," he testified. Thus, he said, "the commercial sector should ‘fill in' behind NASA, while NASA spearheads exploration out into the Solar System."

NASA, and its space goals appear to be in transition. "More than seven months have passed since U.S. President Barack Obama enacted the bipartisan legislation, which directs NASA to start work this year on the heavy-lift Space Launch System and Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle, reports Amy Svitak for SpaceNews.com. "But the effort remains on hold as the U.S. space agency weighs options for building an affordable space exploration architecture while fulfilling Obama's desire to nurture development of privately built space taxis within an annual budget that is expected to remain flat for the foreseeable future."

Could the private sector build a viable commercial marketplace across the stars? IGI Global's recent release, Space-Based Technologies and Commercialized Development: Economic Implications and Benefits, authored by Dr. Stella Tkatchova, examines the overall marketability of tourism in outer space, including business case studies on celestial solar power and space debris that demonstrate the potential of cosmic technologies in the context of interplanetary business. This excellent research volume aims to identify, describe and analyze the benefits to national space agencies, space companies, non-space companies and private investors, of the commercial use of space-based technology and services from human spaceflight and interplanetary space missions.

"In this study, Dr. Tkatchova thoroughly analyzes the space economy and its benefits for nations, space agencies, space and non-space companies, and society by using actual historical experiences, especially human space exploration," writes Todome Kazuhide, President of JAMSS (Japan Manned Space Systems) about this title. Dr. Tkatchova, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, is also the Editor in Chief of IGI Global's semi-annual journal, the International Journal of Space Technology Management and Innovation (IJSTMI).

Space-Based Technologies and Commercialized Development would make an excellent addition to any library. To recommend this title to your university librarian, please visit www.igi-global.com/forms/refertolibrarian.aspx?titleid=45612.

To learn more about Space-Based Technologies and Commercialized Development: Economic Implications and Benefits please visit www.igi-global.com/bookstore/titledetails.aspx?titleid=45612.

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