“ Towards More Affordable and Resilient Space Systems ” A Speech

I am happy to be with you today to share some perspectives on the state of our space industry, and to discuss the challenges we face and the potential directions we could pursue to ensure the U.S. remains the world leader in space. As we are all aware, during recent decades national security space capabilities have become essential to America’s military forces, intelligence operations and foreign policy. Since the end of the Cold War, we have seen a transformation of our military into highly mobile, precise and lethal forces, enabled in many respects by a comprehensive array of space capabilities that are integrated into all operating domains – land, sea, air and cyber. We also know that important aspects of our national economy, industrial activity and public safety depend on satellites, both commercial and dual-use space systems, operated and used by the U.S. military and other federal agencies. While space systems and related products and services directly contributed over $150 billion to our country’s gross domestic product in 2010, their indirect impact on public services and private businesses generated economic value amounting to several times this total. As a result, our economic wellbeing as well as our national security and international standing depend on space systems to an extent that would have been unimaginable 50 years ago, at the dawn of the space age.