Let the Space Race Resume!

The space race that gripped the American government, military, and popular culture over a half-century ago was thought to have petered out in the 1990s.

But President Donald Trump has altered the path of history regarding the U.S. space program by resetting an emphasis on space under the new military branch known as the Space Force.

The subject of space and the revitalized American interest in it is the subject of the forthcoming book by Brandon J. Weichert entitled “Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower.”

Space is becoming the next — and perhaps the final — frontier for economic and defense issues as more and more nations and corporations begin to increase their space programs and initiatives.

According to Weichert, the United States started lagging in developing its space policy due to a mere lack of interest and public support.

This carelessness would have been the undoing of the United States if left unabated.

“After the 1960s, Americans lost interest in going to space due to winning the race to get to the moon and our military involvement in Vietnam,” Weichert writes. “History didn’t end, and other countries kept going and recognized that America militarily relies on a handful of small satellite constellations to project power across the world. If they can target those satellites, then they can effectively render the American military deaf, dumb, and blind running roughshod over us.”

Weichert was quick to zero in on China and how the communist totalitarian country wants to beat out all other nations when it comes to space.

He notes that “China is more worried about getting rovers on the moon, not for exploration, but for strip mining to see what is up there.

“China is very interested in exploiting the natural resource potential of space, much like they are doing that with surrounding countries with their Belt and Road Initiative and their expansion policy in the South China Sea. They once said they view the moon as they view the South China Sea and oceanic gas deposits.”

In Weichert’s eyes, the escalation of tensions with China is something that will have far-reaching implications in space. He believes that “it is imperative that the United States recognizes this as a geopolitical contest and a second space race with much more to lose if we don’t partake in it.”

There are not too many international safeguards for ensuring the militarization of space. As Weichert notes, “we have the U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which technically is supposed to prevent the militarization and weaponization of space. However, the moment that we and other countries both put surveillance satellites into space [the militarization of space] already happened.”

He lays out his case in the book that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have already put harmful things into space, such as co-orbital satellites.

Those satellites are supposed to maintain other satellites in peacetime. In wartime, however, they can attack our satellites and push them out of their orbits. One has the issue of whether Russia and China — more so with China — really care about honoring the treaty.

The author thinks that space could also be the source of bipartisan interest in energy policy.

Notably, “[t]he Green Movement would be greater served with a reliance on space, as seen by Dr. [Jim] Rice with NASA, by making space solar energy reliable. The space-based solar power would allow panels to be in permanent sunlight, without intermittency. In fact, the Chinese have come to these joint conferences, and almost overnight, the Chinese scientists are obsessed with that technology.”

Such an efficient method for harnessing renewable solar energy would further assist in keeping America energy independent.

Ultimately, the deciding factor that will determine the second space race is who is actually producing the innovations.

Weichert makes a clear distinction that “unless you are actually creating the innovation in the lab or field, you can publish all of the papers you want. The Chinese are actually doing it, and we should be too.”

This new and challenging book is sure to provide an innovative approach to space and foster a more profound interest in space for policymakers, academics, and leaders. It is a book that will undoubtedly be a game-changer within the reading lists of those shaping the national dialogue on space during and far beyond the 2020 election cycle.

(Michael Cozzi is a Ph.D. candidate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.)