Issue I

By Carl Poole and Robert A. Bettinger ABSTRACT Space operations will move beyond near-Earth space into the cislunar environment and even beyond by the mid to late 2020s. Reinvigorated U.S. civil and commercial initiatives will likely result in a return to the…

By Christopher Fabian ABSTRACT Failure to recognize the effects of unmotivated biases and the unwillingness to correct cultural misunderstandings amplify a structural security dilemma and create crisis instability in Sino-U.S. relations. The United States misunderstands China’s risk tolerance, the link between Chinese…

By James Brahm ABSTRACT Spacepower is an inherently technological instrument of politics and a state’s ability to exert influence in the space domain is linked to its technical-informational base. Many proposals to adapt the Department of Defense (DoD) to a more technological…

By Wendy Whitman Cobb   ABSTRACT As the United States Space Force has been debated and ultimately stood up, it has often been linked with various science fiction undertakings, most prominently, Star Trek. For the most part, the science fiction connections are not…

By Brent D. Ziarnick ABSTRACT With the establishment of a new U.S. Space Command, the U.S. Space Force, and the space domain itself becoming a growing theater of great power competition, spacepower strategy needs to emerge from the realm of theoretical discussion…

By Kenny Grosselin ABSTRACT Communication satellites generally receive short shrift in political histories of the Space Age. This silence, however, underrepresents the strategic role these satellites played during the early years of the U.S. space program (1958-1972). During this period, policy actions…

By David Buehler, Eric Felt, Charles Finley, Peter Garretson, Jaime Stearns, and Andy Williams ABSTRACT The U.S. military must undertake the necessary preparations to secure U.S. interests beyond geostationary orbit (GEO). As U.S. space activities expand into deep space, threats to economic…

By Jim Malachowski ABSTRACT A new space race is beginning as commercial firms around the world innovate to capitalize on the rich resources in space and the capabilities derived from space. Space is no longer a sanctuary for peaceful exploration. It has…

By Michael R. Dickey ABSTRACT The U.S. Space Force was established in the midst of, and as a result of, an increasingly complex and dynamic environment that demands new ways of thinking about designing the national security space enterprise. The precepts upon…