DIU space director Butow:
“We have the power where it make sense
of leveraging and using public private
partnerships to our advantage.”
- What nations do in
space will frame any future
international space law, says
General Steven Butow, director of
the space portfolio at the Defense
Innovation Unit (DIU), a DoD
organization in Silicon Valley
that works with private commercial
vendors developing technologies
relevant to national security.
Said Butow, “One of the things we
don’t want is to let our
competitors and adversaries go out
and establish the precedent of how
things are going to be done in the
solar system, starting with the
Moon.”
- The Pentagon is
concerned about the possibility
that China will establish a
presence on the Moon and will try
to set the international rules of
behavior in space. The issue was
raised in a
“State of the Space Industrial
Base Report 2020” published
last month by DIU, the Air Force
Research Laboratory, and the U.S.
Space Force. “As space activities
expand beyond geosynchronous
orbit, the first nation to
establish transportation
infrastructure and logistics
capabilities serving GEO and
cislunar space will have superior
ability to exercise control of
cislunar space and in particular
the Lagrange points and the
resources of the Moon,” the report
said.
-
Control of lunar
resources such as hydrogen and
oxygen for propellant will be key
to “enable overall space
commercial development.” And
“China has a grand strategy for
this,” said Butow. China’s space
strategy integrates government,
industry and academia. So in order
to compete, the United States has
to figure out how to marshal the
resources of the private sector in
a free market economy. The DIU
intends to leveraging public
private partnerships to our
strategic advantage.
- Cislunar space development is
likely to be a “hybrid” effort funded
both by government and industry. DIU
has funded about $200 million worth of
space projects with commercial
companies that resulted in an
additional $2.5 billion in private
investment poured into those projects.
“We can leverage a lot of that private
investment without putting a burden on
programs of record which can only be
done by the government,” said Butow.
- Brent Sherwood of the private
aerospace manufacturer Blue
Origin, cautioned that the US
government will need to be a
stable customer to anchor private
businesses contributing to
industry in space and on the Moon.
But as yet, no one has yet come up
with a product that could be
generated on the Moon that would
add enough value into the
terrestrial economy to get private
investors to bankroll lunar
operations, Sherwood said. NASA
selected Blue Origin’s “national
team”, which includes Draper,
Lockheed Martin and Northrop
Grumman, to receive a $579 million
NASA contract to design vehicles
to land humans on the Moon in 2024
under NASA’s Artemis program.
- “We need government to explore
and develop the fundamentals,”
said Sherwood. “Then we can
determine what are the commercial
drivers that would cause
investment in growth.” “[A]t the
beginning there are too many
unknowns.” But NASA, other
government agencies and the
private sector will have to start
developing the logistics
infrastructure to reach cislunar
space and establish a human
presence there. Lots of new
technologies, such as
communications and navigation
systems, will be needed to operate
there.
- The DIU-led report says US
participation in a cislunar
economy “will require security and
a stabilizing military presence.”
The responsibility will fall on
the US Space Force to provide
“surveillance, aids to navigation,
and help when required.”
- Control of lunar resources
such as hydrogen and oxygen for
propellant will be key to “enable
overall space commercial
development.” And “China has a
grand strategy for this,” said
Butow. China’s space strategy
integrates government, industry
and academia. So in order to
compete, the United States has to
figure out how to marshal the
resources of the private sector in
a free market economy. The DIU
intends to leveraging public
private partnerships to our
strategic advantage.
- Cislunar space development is
likely to be a “hybrid” effort funded
both by government and industry. DIU
has funded about $200 million worth of
space projects with commercial
companies that resulted in an
additional $2.5 billion in private
investment poured into those projects.
“We can leverage a lot of that private
investment without putting a burden on
programs of record which can only be
done by the government,” said Butow.
- Brent Sherwood of the private
aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin,
cautioned that the US government will
need to be a stable customer to anchor
private businesses contributing to
industry in space and on the Moon. But
as yet, no one has yet come up with a
product that could be generated on the
Moon that would add enough value into
the terrestrial economy to get private
investors to bankroll lunar
operations, Sherwood said. NASA
selected Blue Origin’s “national
team”, which includes Draper, Lockheed
Martin and Northrop Grumman, to
receive a $579 million NASA contract
to design vehicles to land humans on
the Moon in 2024 under NASA’s Artemis
program.
- “We need government to explore
and develop the fundamentals,” said
Sherwood. “Then we can determine what
are the commercial drivers that would
cause investment in growth.” “[A]t the
beginning there are too many
unknowns.” But NASA, other government
agencies and the private sector will
have to start developing the logistics
infrastructure to reach cislunar space
and establish a human presence there.
Lots of new technologies, such as
communications and navigation systems,
will be needed to operate there.
- The DIU-led report says US
participation in a cislunar economy
“will require security and a
stabilizing military presence.” The
responsibility will fall on the US
Space Force to provide “surveillance,
aids to navigation, and help when
required.”
The Blue Origin national team integrated lander
vehicle. Credit: Blue Origin
WASHINGTON —
The competition for the moon between
the Unites States and China is being
closely watched by the Defense Department
as the military expects to play a role
protecting U.S. access to cislunar space.
One concern for the Pentagon is the
possibility that China establishes a
presence on the moon before the United
States and tries to set the international
rules of behavior in space, said Brig.
Gen. Steven Butow, director of the space
portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit.
DIU is a Defense Department
organization based in Silicon Valley that
works with commercial vendors developing
technologies relevant to national
security.
“Competition is a good thing, but
hopefully there’ll be opportunities for
cooperative uses of space,” Butow said on
Wednesday at the Ascend virtual conference
hosted by the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Laws are set by precedent, said Butow.
What nations do in space will frame any
future international space law, he added.
“One of the things we don’t want is to let
our competitors and adversaries go out and
establish the precedent of how things are
going to be done in the solar system,
starting with the moon.”
The issue was raised in a “state
of the space industrial base” report
published last month by DIU, the Air Force
Research Laboratory and the U.S. Space
Force.
“As space activities expand beyond
geosynchronous orbit, the first nation to
establish transportation infrastructure
and logistics capabilities serving GEO and
cislunar space will have superior ability
to exercise control of cislunar space and
in particular the Lagrange points and the
resources of the moon,” the report said.
Control of lunar resources such as
hydrogen and oxygen for propellant, the
report said, will be key to “enable
overall space commercial development.”
“China has a grand strategy for this,”
said Butow.
He noted that China’s space strategy
integrates government, industry and
academia. So in order to compete, the
United States has to figure out how to
marshal the resources of the private
sector in a free market economy.
In the Defense Department, said Butow,
“we have the power where it make sense of
leveraging and using public private
partnerships to our advantage.”
DIU for example has funded about $200
million worth of space projects with
commercial companies that resulted in an
additional $2.5 billion in private
investment poured into those projects.
“This is a strategic advantage for the
United States,” said Butow. “We can
leverage a lot of that private investment
without putting a burden on programs of
record which can only be done by the
government.”
Will there be a cislunar
market?
Brent Sherwood, vice president of
advanced development programs at Blue
Origin, said cislunar space development is
likely to be a “hybrid” effort funded both
by government and industry.
But he cautioned that the industry is
looking to the government to be a “stable
customer for some predictable requirements
that anchor business,” Sherwood added.
“Certainly, with respect to the moon, that
must be the case.”
No one has yet come up with a product
that would be generated on the moon that
would add enough value into the
terrestrial economy to get private
investors to bankroll lunar operations,
Sherwood said.
NASA’s Artemis program to reach the
moon in 2024 is where most of the
investment will come from. A Blue
Origin-led team is one of three NASA
selected to design vehicles to land humans
on the moon.
Blue Origin’s “national team” that
includes Draper, Lockheed Martin and
Northrop Grumman received a $579 million
NASA contract.
“We all would hope that there will be
services and products that emerge that are
that kind of commercial drivers, but at
the beginning there are too many
unknowns,” said Sherwood. “We need
government to explore and develop the
fundamentals. Then we can determine what
are the commercial drivers that would
cause investment in growth.”
NASA and other government agencies,
along with the private sector, will have
to start developing the logistics
infrastructure to reach cislunar space and
establish a human presence there, said
Sherwood. He pointed out that the lunar
orbital environment is dramatically
different than Earth orbits, and lots of
new technologies will be needed to operate
there, such as communications and
navigation systems.
“We need to be able to know what’s
there, be able to see what’s there and
maintain that domain awareness throughout
this vast volume of space,” said Sherwood.
“We need position, navigation and timing
throughout that region of space and on the
lunar surface, both the near side and far
side. GPS doesn’t work there.”
The DIU-led report says U.S.
participation in a cislunar economy “will
require security and a stabilizing
military presence.” That responsibility
presumably would fall on the U.S. Space
Force. The service would provide
“surveillance, aids to navigation, and
help when required.”
|
