AIR FORCE SECRETARY JAMES OUTLINES CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE FLIGHT

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Right:  Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. DoD photo  

AF Secretary Describes Space Flight Milestones, Challenges
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2015 – Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James yesterday outlined the Air Force’s contributions to human space flight advancement and discussed projected milestones and investments in space.

James delivered the keynote address at the Center for American Progress at an event marking the 50th anniversary of Air Force Maj. Ed White leaving his Gemini 4 spacecraft to become the first American to walk in space.

“Space-based capabilities and effects are vital today to U.S. warfighting, homeland security and, indeed, to our way of life,” James said. “Space provides us with position, navigation and timing … [and] helps us with communications used in international banking, global commerce and remote sensing to deter against nuclear war.”

And space is not only an enabler for other domains, the secretary said, but also directly affects the calculus of national security. Though for many years people largely perceived the space environment as peaceful, James warned that is no longer necessarily so.

“Today our satellites … are threated by a proliferation of man-made space debris and by those who would deliberately seek to counter some of our advantages or capabilities in space,” the secretary said.

New Threats Require Different Thinking

The United States needs to think differently about strategies to buffer against increasing threats in space, James said, and posturing for defense and situational awareness in the domain are good starts. “We need to … prepare for the day when a conflict on Earth could translate to effects in space,” she added.

She cited success with the Air Force’s launch provider, United Launch Alliance.

“The Air Force [Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle] program has had an unprecedented 100 percent launch success rate for almost 13 years,” James said. “We also have been encouraging newer launch providers … like SpaceX, to help us re-energize the industrial base and to reintroduce competition into the launch service arena.”

Recently, SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket were certified as the national security space launch service provider, which James said enables the Air Force to compete launch services for the first time in almost a decade. Leveraging competition will help the Air Force drive down taxpayer costs and boost space resiliency, she added.

Humans Will Soon Go to Mars

James said President Barack Obama’s national space transportation policy calls on NASA to develop the necessary capabilities to support human exploration of Mars.

During a recent speech at the Kennedy Space Center, Obama proclaimed that by the mid-2030s, he believes the United States can safely send humans to orbit Mars and return to Earth, and that landing on Mars will follow.

“The day we land on Mars -- and I, for one, hope that an airman will be on that mission … who will do so in the spirit of Ed White, this will be huge,” James said.

The Air Force’s support of the evolving space enterprise that will continue the exploration and development of space is equally important, the secretary said.

“The U.S. space infrastructure will grow to include capabilities such as on-orbit servicing, assembly of large orbiting structures and routine use of extraterrestrial resources,” she said, adding that returning to manned missions from U.S. soil will also be among the Air Force’s significant developments.

Innovation With Industry

Innovation and collaboration with industry keep the Air Force at the forefront of space capabilities nationally and globally, James said, and pays dividends for national space programs.

“The Gemini IV launch and Ed’s spacewalk … serve as shining examples of what our government can do when we work in close collaboration with industry,” she said. “So much of what we do depends on that innovation that comes to us from industry.”

With last year’s announcement that NASA selected SpaceX and Boeing to develop the commercial crew capsule, the secretary said she believes it’s “very likely” that airmen will return to space by way of Air Force launch facilities before the decade’s end. “That will mean the days of relying on Russians in this way will be numbered,” she added.

As the Defense Department’s executive agent for space, James said, she looks broadly across the enterprise at its strategy, budgets and threats. This, she told the audience, calls for greater investments in training, doctrine and tactics, just in the air and cyber domains.

Space situational awareness, or “the eyes in the sky,” underpins the domain’s programs, specifically related to launching humans and national security payloads into orbit, the secretary said. In July 2014 for example, the Air Force launched two geosynchronous space situational awareness program vehicles that are currently progressing with on-orbit research, development, testing and evaluation.

“This program is going to provide us with unprecedented awareness of the activities of other satellites and geosynchronous and geostationary orbits,” James said, adding that it will be “one of our key neighborhood watch programs.”

Pending an approved budgetary request, the Air Force is on track for the 2019 introduction of the Space Fence, which the secretary said can track smaller objects in low-Earth orbit, adapting capabilities to the trend of smaller and more capable satellites. “Even very small pieces of debris can do enormous damage to these precious satellites,” she said.

People are Greatest Factor in Space

Airmen, James said, have been seminal contributors to space advancement over the decades, including pioneers such as Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who became the second moonwalker as part of the Apollo 11 mission and set a spacewalk record with five and a half hours outside the spacecraft during the Gemini 12 mission.

More recent examples, she said, include retired Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, who logged more than 704 hours in space before serving as commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and retired Air Force Col. Eileen Collins, who logged 872 hours in space and was the first woman to pilot a shuttle and command a shuttle mission.

James also noted Air Force Col. Terry Virts’ service as commander of the International Space Station, which, over the past 15 years, has been inhabited by astronauts from around the globe to advance space goals for humanity.

Orbiting 250 miles above the Earth, Virts and his team are responsible for “the most comprehensive study of year-long effects of space on the human body,” James said. The study, she added, will yield “absolutely essential information and insight … that will be pivotal in determining how humans will ultimately survive a mission to Mars.”

But in considering how to inspire and motivate future airmen in space, James noted that the Air Force’s contributions don’t begin and end with astronauts. Thousands of engineers, scientists, maintainers and other dedicated professionals also work toward sustaining America’s leadership in space, and launch infrastructure rockets such as the Atlas and Delta have been “workhorses” for space exploration, she said.

Defense Department investments include billions of dollars in the space industrial base and James said she predicted a budget uptick in that area due to the program’s significance.

Encouraging Future Airmen, Astronauts

But capabilities alone will not suffice in keeping an advantage in space, James said.

“Our airmen … must continue and become even more well versed in space, its application and its defense,” the secretary said. “Our airmen have to enhance their knowledge of how information … permeates all military systems and contributes to critical information and vital intelligence.”

Nurturing greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers focused on space will ensure future airmen have a sustained zeal and curiosity for the field, James said. The Air Force and the Air Force Association partnered with industry to develop a program, Stellar Explorers, a STEM-themed group encouraging friendly competition in innovation and this year, coincided with the Space Symposium in Colorado, she noted.

“I’m hopeful … that programs like Stellar Explorers will inspire our youth and put them on a path toward careers involving space that is enriching, rewarding and fun. … Let’s face it -- space is fun,” James said.

REMARKS BY FRANK A. ROSE ON U.S.-INDIA SPACE SECURITY COOPERATION

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
03/06/2015 10:49 AM EST
U.S.-India Space Security Cooperation: A Partnership for the 21st Century
Remarks
Frank A. Rose
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance
Observer Research Foundation
New Delhi, India
March 5, 2015
Thank you very much.

Again, my name is Frank Rose. It’s an honor to return to India in my new role as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance.

I’d like to thank the Observer Research Foundation and my good friend Raji for inviting me to speak with you today.

A Renewed U.S.-India Partnership

At the State Department, my colleagues and I are focused on the tools needed to promote global security as well as stable, strategic relationships with friends and partners around the world.

As the world’s two largest democracies, the U.S.-India Partnership is indispensable to global peace, prosperity, and stability.

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington in September and President Obama’s visit to India this January were critical steps towards strengthening and expanding the U.S.-India strategic partnership.

We’ve seen tremendous movement and progress made in all areas of our relationship—infrastructure and investment, civil nuclear cooperation, climate change, defense cooperation and defense trade, health, and global issues like women’s rights and nonproliferation.

But it’s also important to remember that our partnership has deep roots.

As our leaders wrote in their joint op-ed in the Washington Post, “As nations committed to democracy, liberty, diversity, and enterprise, India and the United States are bound by common values and mutual interests. We have each shaped the positive trajectory of human history, and through our joint efforts, our natural and unique partnership can help shape international security and peace for years to come.”

Space Security Cooperation

As we deepen our strategic relationship, we share an interest in addressing the emerging security challenges of the 21st century.

Ensuring the long-term sustainability and security of the outer space environment is one of those challenges, and one that the United States and India are uniquely situated to address together.

Between ISRO and NASA, our two nations have done tremendous work in our exploration of outer space.

I would like to congratulate India on being one of just four space agencies to have reached Mars’ orbit and for being the first Asian nation to do so. It was a pleasant coincidence that NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft and ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission entered the orbit of Mars within a couple of days of each other.

We’re also pleased that ISRO and NASA have established a Mars Working Group to explore how our separate Mars missions can work together and coordinate their efforts. This is just one area of the nearly 15 years of strong civil space cooperation between India and the United States. We look forward to the continued growth across all areas of our space cooperation, potentially including India’s participation in research aboard the International Space Station.

U.S.-India civil cooperation in space has not led to extensive cooperation on space security, at least to date.

But I believe that just as this is a time of transformation and progress for our strategic partnership, so too is it a time of growth for our space security relationship.

Our governments recognize the importance of space security; in September our President and Prime Minister called for the establishment of a dialogue to address this important issue. I’m proud to chair that dialogue here next week.

Bilateral Space Security Cooperation

In September of last year, our leaders committed to a new mantra for our relationship, “Chalein saath saath; forward together we go.” I believe this is true for our space security relationship as well.

As we begin bilateral cooperation on space security, it is important we have an open dialogue where we share information, discuss areas in which we disagree as well as those where we agree, and identify areas for cooperation.

I am excited to start that conversation here in New Delhi.

We also need to identify areas of concrete collaboration.

Collaboration in space situational awareness and collision avoidance, as identified by the U.S.-India Joint Statement of September 2014, is one such potential area.

As we all know, space situational awareness, or SSA, is a foundational capability for spaceflight safety and preventing collisions in space. International cooperation on SSA is greatly beneficial, as international partnerships bring the resources, capabilities, and geographical advantages to enhance SSA upon which we increasingly depend.

The Department of State works closely with the Department of Defense on SSA information sharing agreements with foreign partners.

Establishing an arrangement to share information between the United States and India would be one possible way to begin bilateral collaboration.

Another area of potential bilateral collaboration could be on the utilization of space assets for maritime domain awareness.

Maritime domain awareness is greatly enhanced when data from ground- and sea-based sensors and local human observations are combined with data from space-based sensors, whether those data are from Automatic Identification Systems or Earth-observation satellites.

As both of our countries have a strong interest in promoting maritime security, and have developed robust and multi-layered maritime domain awareness architectures which utilize satellite information, I believe it would be worthwhile to explore cooperation and information exchanges in this area.

Multilateral Space Security Cooperation

There is much that our nations can do together in the multilateral arena as well.

Today, India, the United States, and the world all rely on satellites for communications, for disaster management and relief, for treaty monitoring, and for sustainable development, among many other things.

But there are risks and dangers to operating in space. As the United States Director of National Intelligence noted in January 2014, threats to space services are increasing as potential adversaries pursue disruptive and destructive counter-space capabilities. For example, Chinese military writings highlight the need to interfere with, damage, and destroy reconnaissance, navigation, and communication satellites. China has satellite jamming capabilities and is pursuing antisatellite systems.

The United States and India are both strong believers in transparency and rules based on international law and customs. Our Declaration of Friendship released during the President’s visit in January specifically mentions our mutual respect for “an open, just, sustainable, and inclusive rule-based global order.”

Given the threats and risks, and our national principles and laws, I believe that one of the most obvious and most beneficial areas of cooperation between our countries is in the establishment of rules of the road for outer space activities.

As established space-faring nations, India and the United States should work together to clearly and publicly define what behavior the international community should find both acceptable and unacceptable.

Transparency and confidence-building measures, or TCBMs, such as the proposed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, can contribute to everyone’s awareness of the space environment.

Among the Code’s commitments for signatories is to refrain from any action which brings about, directly or indirectly, damage, or destruction, of space objects and to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, the creation of space debris, in particular, the creation of long-lived space debris.

Political commitments such as the International Code of Conduct are complemented by work on guidelines on space operations and collaborative space situational awareness in multilateral fora such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, or COPUOS.

The Working Group on the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities, a part of COPUOS’ Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, which just concluded its meeting in Vienna last month, is doing important work to move forward in the development of new international long-term sustainability guidelines.

Initiatives like the establishment of TCBMs, the Code of Conduct, and the work of UNCOPUOS cannot be successful without the support and active participation of India.

But Indian support for these or other rules of the road initiatives only gets us half-way there. I firmly believe that with U.S.-India collaboration in establishing norms of responsible behavior and Indian leadership in multilateral fora, we can make these and future initiatives even better.

Conclusion

There is much we can do as global partners to ensure the long-term sustainability and security of the outer space environment. Cooperation on space is just one piece of a strategic U.S.-India relationship in the 21st century. As President Obama said in this very city a little more than one month ago, “our nations will be more secure, and the world will be a safer and more just place when our two democracies stand together.”

Thank you again for hosting me here today, and I look forward to your questions and to our first official space security dialogue with India.

Thank you.