Broadcast 1374 (Special Edition)

Guests: Classroom, Dr. Eligar Sadeh, Dr. John Jurist. Topics: Lesson 10 U.S. Space Policy, what it is, how its made. Please see The Space Show Classroom blog, Lesson 10 Archive Notes for information about this show. Lesson 10 got underway in the first segment with Dr. Sadeh talking about the nature of political policy, some of the players in formulating space policy, and the priorities for NASA in the context of overall US government policy. As you will hear, space policy is typically a means to another end. Dr. Sadeh provided us with several examples underscoring this perspective. In response to a listener question, Dr. Sadeh identified four space policy segments that overlap in terms of making policy. These segments were civil space, commercial space, military space, and intelligence space. He further defined each group into subsets. For example, civil space would include NASA but also NOAH. Don't miss this set of definitions and explanations as we can use it for most all of our space policy discussions. Toward the end of this segment, we talked about the Falcon 9 launch and its impact on policy and then I asked Eligar if the policy makers were at all concerned about the economics and costs of their policy, for example the cancellation of Ares 1 and the sunk cost of about $9 billion plus another 2+ billion to terminate the program. Dr. Sadeh had some interesting things to say about policy makers and this type of concern and awareness but then our program was abruptly terminated as ATT dropped Dr. Sadeh's iPhone call. Another reason why I tell guests to avoid using cell phones on the show. After a short break to reconnect with Dr. Sadeh and his ATT iPhone, we continued discussing the economic awareness and concern of policy makers and I mentioned what was said on an earlier show about Europeans making plans for programs around the return to the Moon and then finding that the Moon was no longer on the table as result of the new policy proposals announced by the Obama Administration on Feb. 1. Eligar commented on the wide ranging impact of policy and how often such impact and collateral damage is not well thought out by those making the policy. We inquired about policy as inspiration for education, STEM, careers, etc. As you will hear, none of that is a primary concern of most policy makers. Bruce from Canada called in with comments and questions about our extremely partisan system of government and how destructive it was for good policy making. Our panel had much to say about this so don't miss the discussion. This led us to talk about business as usual, vested interests and all three of us, Dr. Jurist, Dr. Sadeh, and I had lots to say in this arena. Dr. Jurist commented on the increasing complexity and fragmentation going on in government and the country, making it even harder to establish quality policy and not just with regards to space. Later in the segment, I asked Eligar who the policy makers were and he named a few but mostly talked about the OSTP, the National Security Council (NSC), and Congress. We talked about the influence of NewSpace and space advocacy on policy and we said it was increasing and used the FAA AST. Toward the end of the program, we talked about what it means if Congress goes to continuing resolution (CR) for the FY 11 budget and that the system is set up for feedback from the people through Congress and our elected representatives far more so than our communication with OSTP or the NSC. Space as a jobs program for policy makers was addressed as well as human spaceflight issues. Eligar offered an interesting way to view policy for human spaceflight when asked if the Administration plan was truly a possible end to human spaceflight as many suggest. Don't miss what he had to say about this. We ended the policy discussion talking about National Security Space Strategy and the need for a national space strategy for the country. Post your comments and questions for this program to the Classroom blog, http://spaceshowclassroom.wordpress.com. Prior to closing, Dr. Sadeh talked about his space consulting business, www.astroconultinginternational.com.