Desmond Wysenyuy’s Post

For a limited time, you can download a free PDF of Asia’s Space Ambitions, a multi-author piece just published in 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑦 by National Bureau of Asian Research. It provides an excellent survey of the space aspirations of several nations. Authors include: myself (US), @lincolnhines (China), Saadia M. Pekkanen (Japan), Rajeswari Pallai Rajagopalan (India), Sangwoo Shin (S. Korea), Brian Gallant & Jordan Miller (Canda), Cassandra Steer (Australia), Hema Nadarjah (Singapore). I was quite honored to be asked to write the piece on US space efforts and plans and to step into the footsteps of the legendary John M. Logsdon who wrote that section the last publication. In 2020 John wrote: "𝘕𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭, 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴. Developing those rules, given the nationalistic character of current U.S. space policy, will pose a continuing challenge to international space diplomacy." I conclude with: "𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵. 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘜.𝘚.-𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺; it can even be argued that no other policy domain has been as successful for the United States." https://lnkd.in/gi_zGA33

Kari Bingen and Audrey Schaffer of Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on why we should try to engage #China now on space norms. It is the right thing to do. It is in China's interest and ours to cooperate in certain areas. I also agree with "Such engagement is not a substitute for continued U.S. investments and policies that maintain U.S. global leadership in space, prepare the United States to protect and defend its space-related interests, and foster a vibrant U.S. commercial space sector." https://lnkd.in/ekr9533x

A rise in Asian countries' space capabilities is shaping a new order of competitive international relations in space.

Some thoughts on the Lowy Institute with Dr. Cassandra Steer Steer, focusing on mainstreaming civil space partnerships in the Australia-Japan relationship. We looking at space diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region, spanning areas such as regional development, disaster response, and technology collaboration.

Sharing Khyle Eastin's essay on the evolution of China's strategic thinking about space, which explores in great details both its historical background and its recent inclusion in frontier domains supporting China's rise as a great power. Very cool infographics and mapping by Louis Martin-Vézian too! #StrategicSpace https://lnkd.in/e7cNjVHE

🔴🇺🇸 The Two Paragraphs That Effectively Banned U.S.-China Space Cooperation - the Wolf Amendment WSJ 26 Jan 2023; 155,942 views The Wall Street Journal 🌐🔗 https://lnkd.in/gUpxHe8E #WolfAmendment #ChinaSpace #NASA #ChinaSpaceStation #天宫 #空间站 In 2011, Congress effectively banned the U.S. from working with China in space. The law is called the Wolf Amendment. Its goal was to prevent China and Chinese companies from stealing U.S. technology and also to put pressure on China over human rights abuses. But today, the dynamics in space are changing. The International Space Station is set to retire in 2030. Meanwhile China’s space station, Tiangong, was just completed at the end of 2022. Both countries have plans to establish a presence on the same part of the moon in the next decade. WSJ explains why that law was created and why whether it has hurt or helped the U.S. is a big debate in the space community. Illustration: Madeline Marshall News Explainers Some days the high-speed news cycle can bring more questions than answers. WSJ’s news explainers break down the day's biggest stories into bite-size pieces to help you make sense of the news. #NASA #China #WSJ .

As Australia gets ready to host the Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum #APRSAF next week, Andre Kwok and I wrote about the opportunity of space technology collaboration as a policy lever. Japan fully understands this opportunity, as the country that initiated #APRSAF and leads the meeting each year, which serves as a form of civil space partnerships in the region, and also serves as a diplomatic tool, a means to reach shared policy ends in the Asia-Pacific region. We advocate for Australia and Japan to elevate their growing bilateral security and civil space relationships for a more resilient and prosperous Asia-Pacific region. https://lnkd.in/eHa3NDG3

This MUST-watch video by Brian McManus on his "Real Engineering" YouTube channel should be titled "The Threat of China's Space Program," not "Problems." China is playing the long game in its quest for space dominance, backed by full governmental support and funding. While they recognize the complex challenges of achieving dominance on Earth, they view space as their opportunity to define their future on their terms. Many believe China is still far from this goal, but I disagree. Unlike the Space Race with the Soviet Union, which was driven by ideological competition, China poses a different kind of threat—an economic one. China holds close to a trillion dollars in U.S. debt, and much of the U.S. market and manufacturing growth is tied to them. While the U.S. commercial sector currently leads the space industry, China's commercial sector is quickly catching up. Just as America's discovery of the New World in the 1500s reshaped global power structures that had centered on Europe for centuries, space is the new frontier today. China sees this as its opportunity to reclaim its place as the world's new dominant power. FUTURE of SPACE #china #spacethreat #spacedominance #economicthreat #globaldiplomacy #spacerace

Remember the many decades when the US and Russia (or the Soviet Union, as it was then) went head to head in the race to be the no.1 Space power. Now that Russia has declined, China wants to take its place, at least as no. 2. It has released its ambitious 'medium to long-term space science plan' to 2050. Apart from this being a 'civilian' plan - in the past Space was a military matter in China - it sets out aspirations to collaborate internationally as part of its bid to be a space power. Bleddyn Bowen a Space policy expert at the University of Durham, UK tells me international collaboration is an important part of China’s ambitions in space to portray itself as a technological powerhouse and an alternative to the US. “That kind of international cooperation is much more important than anything they’re doing on the moon or on an [international] space station,” he says. But other experts note China is not yet there as a great Space power. And while its plan to 2050, is an ambitious one, timetables are all too fluid in Space planning and implementation. It's clear the rivalry between China and the US in Space will only get stronger but will those collaborating on research with one side or the other in this era of technological decoupling find themselves running foul of US export control rules, for example if they cooperate with China? Lots to ponder with my latest for University World News https://lnkd.in/emWBSwb7

I’m pleased to share my latest article, “A Middle East space race? Motivations, trajectories, and regional politics" published in the journal Space Policy https://lnkd.in/ebCHY76H. It’s an effort aimed at bridging three fields: Space Policy, Middle East Politics, and International Relations. Let me know if you have trouble accessing the article.