Category Archives: Space

Business, Political Commentary, Space

Indian Space Policy

This is a huge change. ISRO is finally loosening its reins on the space industry.

I had a phone conversation with a would-be Indian space entrepreneur a few years ago who was wondering how to get this to happen. I would have hoped it would have happened sooner under Modi, but better late than never. This should make them even more receptive to multilateral agreements like the Artemis Accords, or along the lines of my IAC paper.

Business, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The Election And Space

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Briefly, I don’t think a Biden win is great news, particularly given that Bridenstine has stated that he won’t serve in a Biden administration even if asked. But someone asked me on Twitter what it means for the Artemis Accords, and that will at least partially depend on who the new Secretary of State will be. I’ve heard rumors that Romney might be up for the job, as someone who would be easy to get confirmed, but that would be bad news indeed, given his opinions about space. I wrote about it during the 2012 campaign, and thought that my readers might find it of interest.

As far as a new administrator, an obvious choice would be Lori Garver, but I don’t think she’s confirmable, regardless of how the Senate ends up, just because of enmity from the space porkers like Shelby. Whether she becomes administrator or not, we can be sure that there will be a much bigger emphasis on climate for NASA.

[Afternoon update]

The transition team has been announced. Pam Melroy is the point person for NASA. If she ends up being administrator, we could do a lot worse, and have.