The future of security in space: A thirty-year US strategy Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series by Clementine G. Starling, Mark J. Massa, Lt Col Christopher P. Mulder, and Julia T. Siegel
Key takeaways
Space development has reached an inflection point, transitioning from a phase of discovery to phases of security and commerce.
Spacefaring countries and companies are harnessing new technologies to push new boundaries, uncovering value while simultaneously opening the door to chaos and competition.
The United States and its allies and partners must take action over the next three decades to secure a future of security and prosperity.
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January 22, 2021
China’s Chang’e 5 moon mission successfully returned moon rocks to Earth in December 2020 for the first time in 45 years. It’s now headed toward an Earth-sun Lagrange point, with the goal of making sun observations.
ChinaDaily reported this week (January 20, 2021) that the Chang’e 5 moon craft – which on December 16-17 dropped off its return capsule, returning moon rocks to Earth for the first time since 1976 – is now on a new mission to observe the sun. That’s after an earlier report on December 22, saying the same thing. The news may be that mission engineers originally overestimated the amount of fuel remaining to Chang’e. In December, they were estimating 440 pounds (200 kg) of fuel left. Now, as explained in the video above, space engineers are reporting just 220 pounds (100 kg) of fuel remaining. The fuel is needed to insert Chang’e into an orbit at an Earth-sun Lagrange point (L1) when it arrives there in mid-March.