In 2008, I wrote a Spacefaring America blog entry focusing on the upcoming presidential elections. Barack Obama won that election and, as is now very clear, his administration had absolutely no interest in America’s space program. As our elected president, his prerogative was to do what he wished within the boundaries of the US Constitution and laws. Hence, any blame for any shortcomings that the American public now see in the President Obama’s administration, where nearly two-thirds now believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, lies with those who twice voted him into office. As the 2016 presidential campaign unfolds, it is incumbent upon patriotic American voters to see that this does not happen again. Choosing poorly in the presidential primary and general elections – often by a voter’s single-minded focus on gender or ethnicity instead of American greatness and earned prosperity – has very serious negative consequences as these past seven years have clearly shown.
America becoming a true commercial human spacefaring nation this century is critical to the next president turning this situation around. Great nations do great things. One great thing that the United States now needs to lead the world in accomplishing is transitioning to sustainable energy utilizing space-based power. Worldwide this will become a $5–10 trillion a year – to repeat, $5-10 trillion each and every year through 2100 – enterprise for the rest of this century. The end of the era of fossil fuels is approaching and only sustainable space-based power has the generation potential to meet the United States and the most of the rest of the world’s sustainable energy needs.
The challenge faced by the American pro-spacefaring community is to sell the next president on the vision and the means to accomplish this vision. To become a true commercial human spacefaring nation, the United States must build a new commercial human spacefaring logistics infrastructure. This will require new presidential policies to guide this new enterprise. Helping to shape the political understanding of this vision, how to accomplish it, and what new presidential policies are needed is where my focus will be this year.
I invite you to take three actions. First, sign up for this blog if you have not already. This will keep you informed on new postings. Second, sign up for the mailing list for the Spacefaring Federation website. This will enable you, should you later choose, to engage politically in the efforts needed to make becoming a true commercial spacefaring nation a reality. Finally, visit and review the information on the Spacefaring Institute website.
Let’s make 2016 a successful year for America’s spacefaring future,
Mike Snead, PE
Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Member, IEEE
Order of the Engineer
President, Spacefaring Institute LLC