Space Strategy

In this episode Peter Garretson talks with Jim Keravala, co-founder and CEO of OffWorld, inc. The conversation opens with the truly grand scale of ambition in space, beginning with interstellar migration before working back to Cislunar development. This leads into an exploration of political and environmental pressures, highlighting the need to double or quadruple our energy inputs through Space Solar Power. Jim shares his past efforts with Shacketon energy to create an $18B sovereign wealth fund for developing Lunar infrastructure and building solar power Satellites. The conversation shifts to examining the genesis of OffWorld, its success in terrestrial mining, and plans for swarm mining of end-of-life mines. The dialogue emphasizes the criticality of Cislunar space, establishing how U.S. economic prosperity is absolutely tied to our Cislunar competence. This opens up a broader conversation about why Cislunar development is urgent today and how to catalyze it in alignment with the Oil & Gas industry. The focus then turns to Cislunar's importance for national security and the future roles of the Space Force. As the conversation progresses, attention shifts to the opportunity of building and leading the foundation of expansion into Cislunar space during this era of unprecedented technological advancement—comparable to the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel. The discussion expands to cover starship, self-replication, synbio, AI, AI ethics, and the incredible opportunity facing the new administration. The episode concludes with a compelling scenario of what we're likely to see unfold if we make the right decisions.

In this episode Peter Garretson talks with Mike Snead and Jess Sponable about why America doesn't yet have true spaceplanes and their promise and importance.  They cover nuances of what counts as a spaceplane, what sorts of things a spaceplane can do, the major categories of spaceplanes (TSTO, SSTO, VTOL, HOTOL, VTHL, rocket/airbreathing, air collection, hot & cold structures).  The guests review the history of US efforts from X-20 DynaSoar, TAV (Boeing) to Cooper Canyon to X-30 NASP, Have Region, DC-X, X-33/Venture Star, XS-1/XSP and more). They explain that for decades the U.S. industrial base could have built rocket-powered spaceplanes and discuss the geo-strategic and political regions it has not. The conversation explores the reasons for failure, the sad demise of X-planes, and some of the positive trends in industry. They discuss policies that might advance spaceplanes as well as their military implications. Toward the end, Mike and Peter also discuss the interactions between spaceplanes, space solar power, and the implications of China's spaceplane, Lunar and Space Solar Power programs. The consider how a mature 'astroelectricity'and 'astrologistics' infrastructure would fundamentally change the game for the U.S. Space Force and military power.

In this episode, AFPC Senior Vice President, and host of the Disinformation Wars podcast, speaks with Col. Peter Garretson, AFPC Senior Fellow in Defense Studies and former chief futurist for the U.S. Air Force, regarding China’s recent strides forward in space internet, and what it might mean for the unfolding “great power competition” between Washington and Beijing.   MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: — Ilan Berman, “The Fight for Informational Freedom Is Moving to Space,” Newsweek, September 4, 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/fight-informational-freedom-moving-space-opinion-1948104 — Richard M. Harrison and Peter Garretson, The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy (Praeger Security International, 2023), https://www.amazon.com/Next-Space-Race-Blueprint-International/dp/1440880808 — Peter Garretson and Richard M. Harrison, “Reacting to Major Space Events at or Below Geostationary Orbit - After Action Report 1,” AFPC Special Report, July 5, 2024, https://www.afpc.org/publications/special-reports/reacting-to-major-space-events-at-or-below-geostationary-obit-after-action-report-1.  — Peter Garretson and Richard M. Harrison, “Reacting to Major Space Events on the Moon and in Cislunar Space - After Action Report 2,” AFPC Special Report, September 24, 2024, https://www.afpc.org/uploads/documents/Workshop_2_-_After_Action_Report_-_9.16.24.pdf. 

In this episode Peter Garretson talks with Dr. Greg Autry, Associate Provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy at the University of Central Florida, and former member of the 2016 NASA Agency Review Team and White House Liaison to NASA in 2017.  They discuss a number of ideas in Dr. Autry's new book Red Moon RISING: How America Will Beat China on the Final Frontier. They touch on how Dr. Autry moved from being a software entrepreneur into the New Space movement, including his early work in China on human rights, the impact of his earlier book Death By China, and what are the stakes of Space Race 2.0. They also delve into Dr. Autry's recent testimony on the stakes of the in-space mineral supply chain, including relegating the U.S. to an economic backwater, and potentially existential threat to the US. They explore the big idea of Space Settlement, Millions of people living and working in space on new space stations, the surface Moon and Mars, and why we should populate Mars, and how China's decision to turn inward multiplied rather than solved their problems. They talk about the contribution of space toward our understanding of climate and the environment, and toward offering solutions, and Autry's contention that America can afford to have a future in space. They assess communism, authoritarianism, capitalism, billionaires, nuclear power, and the remarkable bipartisanship in space. They discuss how cooperation is boring and has resulted in very little comparative progress. They converse about NASA's tragic plans to trash the ISS, and alternatives for this tremendous piece of human heritage. They evaluate the progress of NASA's Artemis vs the tasking in the National Space Policy, and the historical reasons for its complexity and schedule delay, and concerns of a lack of urgency, and that the US may be losing in the race with China.  Bridging on Dr. Autry's recent review of the Republican Platform space strategy, Greg discusses what is a vision worthy of our nation and what must be done to move forward. They conclude by discussing ways for individuals to get in involved in the Space Movement, including the National Space Society (NSS), Mars Society, Moon Village Association, and the open & welcoming nature of the Space Movement and ways to seek the education to become a space leader, such as University of Arizona's Thunderbird Executive Master of Global Management: Space Leadership Business and Policy. More of Dr. Autry's thinking can be found in his regular Forbes Science Column and Foreign Policy, and New Space Articles.