DOD revises its space policy.

DOD revises its space policy

In recent years, the Department of Defense (DOD) hasdepended on NASA space shuttles as the primary vehicles for launching its payloads into space. In fact, only last August President Reagan said NASA's space shuttles should be dedicated at least in part "to payloads important to national security and foreign policy' (SN: 8/23/86, p.116). But no more. As of Feb. 4, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger adopted a revised policy on U.S. military use of space, which states that it is DOD policy to use unmanned launch vehicles for its missions whenever possible. Although the formal document describing this and other changes to DOD's space policy is classified, an unclassified summary was released last week.

According to Philip H. Kunsberg, assistant deputy undersecretaryof defense for policy, DOD's revised launch strategy is chief among changes in its new space policy. Kunsberg, who declined to comment on how the Challenger disaster affected the new launch policy, said only that the agency will be seeking a more "varied approach' in its launch options. In particular, he says, there's interest in stimulating the growth of a commercial space-launch industry that DOD can use "when appropriate and necessary.' At present, such a commercial launch capability does not exist (SN: 12/21&28/85, p.392). But citing the President's interest in developing one, Kunsberg reported last week that the Air Force is "formulating contractual provisions that would enable it to make available DOD launch facilities for commercial purposes.' It is to be one of DOD's first steps toward launching a commercial alternative to NASA.

DOD's new policy also formally mentions for the first time theagency's interest in actively exploring roles for a "military man-in-space' program. From a cost-benefit standpoint, unmanned missions usually make more sense, Kunsberg says. However, he adds, because "the Soviets have exploited men in space extensively for military purposes,' there is "a strong suspicion' that the U.S. military might also find potentially useful roles for manned missions. Kunsberg not only declined to speculate on what such roles might entail, but also said he was not at liberty to describe what military roles Soviet cosmonauts now play.