The Lunar and Asteroid Task Force Initiative
Summary
The next administration should launch a task force within the Office of Space Commerce to promote and achieve U.S. private space exploration on the Moon and on asteroids. This task force would encourage space civilianization on the Moon’s surface and foster international collaboration around orbital debris removal.
A dedicated task force to assist private companies moving into the nascent lunar exploration and mining sector—similar to NASA’s current Space Act Agreements and launch contracts—would help establish U.S. presence on the lunar surface and stimulate a U.S. space economy. State actors have been working on lunar technology, and it is imperative that we respond to their imminent presence on the Moon. The Federal Government, led by the White House and executed by the Office of Space Commerce, should undertake a comprehensive agenda and allocate federal funding for a new Lunar and Asteroid Task Force.
With 2000 nuclear weapons on alert, far more powerful than the first bomb tested in the Jornada Del Muerto during the Trinity Test 80 years ago, our world has been fundamentally altered.
As the United States continues nuclear modernization on all legs of its nuclear triad through the creation of new variants of warheads, missiles, and delivery platforms, examining the effects of nuclear weapons production on the public is ever more pressing.
While it is reasonable for governments to keep the most sensitive aspects of nuclear policies secret, the rights of their citizens to have access to general knowledge about these issues is equally valid so they may know about the consequences to themselves and their country.
Nearly one year after the Pentagon certified the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program to continue after it incurred critical cost and schedule overruns, the new nuclear missile could once again be in trouble.