The United States isn’t out of the game yet when it comes to space, but if it wants to remain on top, it will need to do more and do it faster, a senior Defense Department official said Jan. 8, 2019.
“China is integrating certain new technologies and fielding those capabilities faster than the U.S.,” said Chris Shank, director of DOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office. “That means we have to be more responsive.”
Shank spoke during a presentation in San Diego hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he pointed out some statistics regarding space launches in 2018.
“China had 39 launches, the U.S. had 31, Russia had 20, [and] Europe had eight,” Shank said. “And [China] landed a robotic mission on the dark side of the moon — a first.”
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., April 14, 2018. The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter Augmented Geosynchronous Laboratory Experiments system was onboard and is one of the 3rd Space Experimentation Squadron’s primary missions.
(US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Stoltz)
Shank said that while he doesn’t think the U.S. has lost leadership in space, it is losing ground. After all, he noted, the United States isn’t without its own recent achievements in space.
Space Development Agency
“In the same week that they land on the moon, we are at the furthest reaches of the solar system at Ultima Thule,” he said. NASA’s New Horizons probe flew by and observed the trans-Neptunian object about 4 billion miles from the sun in January 2019. It’s the farthest object ever explored in space.
Shank said to stay relevant in space, the United States will need to speed up its development cycle for space-based technologies significantly.
“The DOD is committed to creating a Space Development Agency,” Shank said. “That would be a joint organization… to rapidly develop and field the next generation of space capabilities. I think that a Space Development Agency will represent a real investment in experimenting and prototyping of the rapid field of capabilities. … So buckle up — 2019 is going to be busy.”
This article originally appeared on the United States Department of Defense. Follow @DeptofDefense on Twitter.
