Maybe its because this is the first time I've been this plugged into a presidential transition. Or maybe its because President-elect Obama is going to be a different kind of president, where policy debates are VERY public. Or maybe its because the space community has its act together, and we are positioned for a change in space policy. I am hoping its the latter 2, and not the first one.
However, for whatever reason, it feels like we might actually see some good space policy for a change. We saw the beginnings of that during the campaign, and we are seeing it extended over at change.gov
For those of you who aren't actively involved in space policy and space development, Senator Obama did not start off as the "Space Candidate." Indeed, his original policy mentions of it were horribleand bad(and I, no doubt, will continue to pay for this particular post). However, in August, he rolled out a much better space policy.
We are seeing that continue into the transition phase as well (at least I think so, although I know a few people who disagree with me). We all know about change.gov, and the various ways to interact over there. I read Mike Stark's diary about the new Question tool, and went over there, and have offered up a couple of questions concern about space - do a search for space, and you can vote on the 3 I offered up
- Will you make Cheap, reliable Access to Space a National Priority?
- Will you encourage the development and deployment of Space Solar Power, with particular emphasis on the deployment of a prototype Solar Powered Satellite, before the end of your presidency?
- Will you move to reform the International Treaty Arms Regulation, with a special emphasis on commerical space hardware, as you promised during the campaign?
In addition, the Space Frounter Foundation offered up a white paper, about the potentials of Space Solar Power. The white paper itself can be seen here, and you can comment on it over at change.gov. This white paper was among the first ten, and already there are hundreds of comments.
For those who want more details about Space Solar Power, I encourage the following resources. First, this is an excellent movie
I also encourage this report which was produced last year, by the National Secuirty Space Office last year. Finally, the wikipedia article about Solar Power Satellites is fairly accurate.
BTW, I want to make mention of Vladislaw- he has been doing a great job talking about Space here at dkos.