In this episode Peter Garretson meets with Dr. Ezinne Uzo-Okoro of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). They discuss the White House space policies in the context of the Administration Priorities, including climate, economy and jobs, restoring US global leadership, COVID and infrastructure, and the intention to lead by example. They delve into the broad context of the White House Space Priorities Framework and its emphasis on sustainability, norms and behaviors, earth observation for climate change. They examine the plethora of policy documents and the 'nuts and bolts' of what is involved in originating and coordinating such documents, including aligning with presidential intent, 'reading the room,' bringing together and educating stakeholders, and soliciting feedback including from industry and academia, making a case for guidance, always with the intent to maintain US preeminence at least 10-20 years down the road. They address how such documents are used by federal agencies, allies, and industry, and the relationship of OSTP to the National Space Council (NSpC), National Security Council (NSC), and Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and sometimes the National Economic Council (NEC) and Climate office...as well as the need for patience and grace throughout the 6-12 month coordination process. They explore the historic nature of the National Cislunar Science and Technology Strategy and the deliberate choice of the language of 'settlement' in the new National Low Earth Orbit Research and Development Strategy, and the consistent industry-friendly themes across documents of new products and scalable infrastructure, and economic growth. They touch on In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing National Strategy and National In-Space Servicing Assembly, and Manufacturing Implementation Plan, as well as the National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing and Interagency Roadmap to Support Space-Related STEM Education and Workforce. They also cover the James Webb Telescope and exciting DART mission, the recently updated National Preparedness Strategy & Action Plan for Near-Earth Object Hazards and Planetary Defense—"what's cooler than planetary defense." Along the way they discuss Space-Based Solar Power, Exoplanets, Settlement, Space Weather, regulating novel space activities. They review Ezinne's own career and journey, and her reasons for optimism and philosophy of hard work. They conclude talking about how easy it is to become involved in space, because it is a small community where anyone can play, and secrets of success such as: if you want to go far, go together; that success comes from putting one foot in front of the other; the utility of patience and grace, and that there is plenty of work, so grab an oar!    

In this episode Peter Garretson talks with science fiction author Daniel Suarez about his latest novel Critical Mass, which depicts humanity’s transition from a climate-imperiled, Earthbound civilization to one that utilizes the resources and energy from deep space to secure a promising, sustainable future. They discuss what it means to be a spacefaring civilization, what is the value proposition for developing Cislunar, the new Space Race, what will be the determinants of spacepower both soft & hard, and what ought to be our national priorities. Daniel is clear that, “They [China] have basically declared that they want to have a space race with us. I say we take them up on it” and that “We need to get busy, and we really need to be focused on outcomes,” that “We Need an Apollo Level of Urgency,” and “And if that space race can inspire us to get busy and get moving well, then good. Then it and it's going to have a good catalyzing effect.” They analyze what the Space Force should assume about Cislunar, space resources, humans in space, and requirements for guardians in space. They delve into what the new capabilities mean for competitive endurance and a theory of success, and the opportunities afforded by space mobility and logistics. They explore the concept of space infrastructure, and the criticality of on-orbit mass for spacepower advantage. They assess how the scenario in his latest book ought to give the USSF pause, “And if this scenario gives them [USSF] nightmares…then, hopefully, that will urge some action.”  They touch on cryptocurrency in space, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and the space commodities exchange. They cover Asteroid Mining, Solar Power Satellites to Mass Drivers, to Lunar Cyclers, Spin-Gravity Space Stations—and enabling U.S. policy. They discuss the utility of Science Fiction as ‘cost-effective prototyping the future’, the utility of narrative, and the constraint that ‘you can’t build something until you can imagine it.’ They close by examining the future roles and missions for the Space Force in a developing Cislunar economy in the context of the technology in his novels DeltaV and Critical Mass.

In this episode Peter Garretson talks with Dr. Kurt "Spuds" Vogel, NASA Director of Space Architectures, about NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives and NASA's just-released Blueprint for Sustained Human Presence and exploration throughout the Solar System. They discuss the NASA organization, the difference between an objective vs capabilities based approach, what it means to 'architect from the right and execute from the left, the significance of the objectives, and the collaborative process to get there. They outline how the plan seeks to be robust across administrations and alternate budget futures. They close by focusing on the significance of objectives for science, applied science, science enabling, and infrastructure objectives, and in particular the step-change of including a 'robust Cislunar economy' and an explicit NASA goal to enable 'Commerce and Space Development' by deliberately fostering 'the expansion of the economic sphere beyond Earth orbit to support U.S. industry and innovation.'

In this episode, Peter Garretson hosts Dr. Avi Loeb, Director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Institute for Theory and Computation, head of the Galileo Project, and Chair of the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative Advisory Committee. They discuss recent discoveries of extraterrestrial objects (Oumuamua, Comet Borisov, and 2 meteors). Avi provides insights into the big ideas in his book Extraterrestrial, including the hypothesis that Oumuamua might be a lightsail from an alien civilization. Interestingly, Avi’s team is trying to create one via the Breakthrough StarshotInitiative–Avi hopes to achieve 10% the speed of light with a laser-lightsail carrying a Starchip to get to our closest neighbor star Proxima Centauri. They address the story of the 2014 meteor, journal rejection, as well as, the story behind the USSPACECOM release of the data on the extraterrestrial meteor, and Avi’s plans to recover it. They cover Avi’s recent paper, ‘PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS ON UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA’ for the Pentagon’s AARO, the controversial headline it created (‘Pentagon UFO chief says alien mothership in our solar system possible’), and why the subject of UAP’s or extraterrestrial civilization is a puzzlingly taboo subject in the science community despite significant public and government interests. They consider UAP’s, and the efforts of Project Galileoto capture anomalous signatures, and what sort of funding would be required to deploy at scale. They review the White House tasking to DoD for Planetary Defense, and the utility of looking for extraterrestrial signatures as part of an in-space Space Domain Awareness (SDA) sensor architecture. Finally, they question what potential discoveries might arise from attempting to test the extraterrestrial hypothesis, a long-term vision for the preservation of humanity and its values and seeding the galaxy with life and intelligence, as well as short-term opportunities for policy to align government (and perhaps even USSF) funding on extraterrestrial objects, SETI, and UAP with public interests.

In this episode, Senior Fellow Peter Garretson interviews Lieutenant General John E. Shaw, Deputy Commander of United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). They begin by explaining the role and responsibilities of USSPACECOM. They examine Gen. Shaw's new article, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Space as a Military Area of Responsibilities (AOR), including its key propositions: the importance of Earth; the insufficiency of the term "global"; the need to re-imagine strategic terrain (upwell, downwell, cislunar); and the importance of the AOR to everyone. They detail the role of a COCOM in peace and in war. Next, they discuss the utility of a naval / maritime analogy for Spacepower, and the potential new missions. They touch on Gen. Shaw's book, Whither Space Power, and where it has proved prescient. They outline interagency challenges ahead such as rescue of space tourists and deflecting asteroids—including a recent NASA-FEMA-USSF-USSPACEOM tabletop exercise (TTX). Finally, they conclude with a vision of humanity's future in space if we play our cards right, and an invitation to young people to join the adventure through service in the United States Space Force. About Gen. John Shaw: https://www.spacecom.mil/Leaders/Bio/Article/2433977/lt-gen-john-e-shaw/ USSPACECOM: https://www.spacecom.mil/ Article: Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AEtherJournal/Journals/Volume-1_Issue-1/06-Shaw.pdf Book: Whither Space Power https://media.defense.gov/2017/May/05/2001742912/-1/-1/0/FP_0008_WORDEN_SHAW_WHITHER_SPACE_POWER.PDF USSPACECOM Posture Statement https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/USSPACECOM%20FY23%20Posture%20Statement%20SASC%20FINAL.pdf https://www.spacecom.mil/Testimony/ Planetary Defense TTX: https://www.jhuapl.edu/NewsStory/220310c-planetary-defense-exercise https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/pd/cs/ttx22/ Gen. Shaw Presenting on Planetary Defense at Space Symposium: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7137185/usspacecom-deputy-presents-planetary-defense-37th-annual-space-symposium Gen. Shaw Wired Interview https://www.wired.com/story/space-commands-lt-gen-john-shaw-on-the-future-of-space-security/ Gen. Shaw OpEd  https://spacenews.com/op-ed-the-u-s-space-force-must-be-independent-but-not-insular/