Science Debate answers cover familiar ground

Earlier this year Science Debate 2008, a group trying to put together a debate among presidential candidates devoted exclusively to science policy, issued a set of 14 questions to the campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama that they hoped to get answered in lieu of an actual debate. One of those 14 dealt with space:

11. Space. The study of Earth from space can yield important information about climate change; focus on the cosmos can advance our understanding of the universe; and manned space travel can help us inspire new generations of youth to go into science. Can we afford all of them? How would you prioritize space in your administration?

Both campaigns have now answered those questions, but on the topic of space don’t really offer any new insights. The Obama campaign, which responded a couple weeks ago, said he “will establish a robust and balanced civilian space program” that includes both human and robotic space exploration as well as Earth sciences and aeronautics; the response also discusses his plan to reestablish the National Aeronautics and Space Council as a way to prioritize space. The McCain campaign, which just responded over the weekend, provided a response almost word-for-word identical to the campaign’s existing space policy document. The one difference is the lead paragraph:

The real question is whether we can afford not to. We must ensure that we have a balanced approach to our space investments along with proper management controls. Today, we rely more upon our space based assets than at any other time in history. We need the technological advances of these systems to effectively address tremendous challenges such as climate change. Failure to properly address these problems will have devastating effects on the future of the planet.

Speaking of presidential politics and space policy, in this week’s issue of The Space Review Adrian Brown offers some suggestions to a prospective Obama Administration on space issues. Among his suggestions: transfer some funding from defense to the “space-industrial complex”, using that extra funding to accelerate the exploration program with the goal of returning humans to the Moon by 2016, and creating a new NASA center (preferably in the southwestern US) focused on promoting the commercialization of space. On the last point, though, one response I saw this morning was to the effect that current growth in the NewSpace industry is taking place because NASA is not playing a major role, not in spite of it.