The US Space Priorities under the Obama Administration

Ajey Lele

Group Captain Ajey Lele (Retd.) was a Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and headed its Centre on Strategic Technologies. He started his professional… Continue reading The US Space Priorities under the Obama Administration read more

The 21st century may not hold the same strategic logic of the 1960s and 1970s towards discovering outer space. Over a period of time, particularly after the end of the Cold War, space appears to have lost some, if not all, of its strategic significance. During 2004, the then US president, George W. Bush, had argued that the 21st century moon exploration initiative by the US should be viewed as part of a journey and not a race. Mostly, the peaceful voyage of global activities in space got a jolt when China conducted an anti-satellite test (ASAT) during January 2007. China destroyed its own aging weather satellite at an altitude of 850 km by using a missile (non-explosive, KKV-kinetic kill vehicle technology) and in turn creating huge space debris hazardous to other satellites.