A Conservative Vision for Space: Leading the Future of Human Flourishing

A Vision for Conservatives in Space: Human Flourishing, the Human Journey, and Our Place in Space

The Artemis Accords are a set of non-binding, U.S.-led principles established under American President Donald J. Trump in 2020 to guide civil space exploration and the use of space. Sixty-seven nations signed the accords, a coalition spanning North and South America, Europe, Asia,
Africa, and Oceania. Foundational to this agreement are many ideas rooted in conservative thought including respect for national sovereignty, natural rights, and the power of private enterprise.

Worldwide conservatives should be the strongest champions for the place of free peoples in space. This is not only vital for the future prosperity, freedom, and security of Americans and friendly and allied nations, space is crucial for the advancement of humanity. As the great stewards of human flourishing, conservatives should take leading role in the thought and action of securing the place of free peoples in space.

In the next 50 years, there may only be a modest number of humans in space, but there will be an enormous amount of human activity in space, activity that will shape terrestrial life. Without a stronger, bolder vision, free nations cannot counter China’s long-term plan for dominance in
space (as well as partners such as Russia) who would deliver a dark future for all humankind. China intends to dominate space by 2049 (the 100 year anniversary of the CCP). Control of space equals control of Earth. This is a race we could lose.

In fact, we likely will lose without substantially revitalizing our national effort and federal leadership. We must be more than just spacefaring nations. Free peoples must lead in the space domain and
thwart Chinese efforts to expand their systems of governance and economy into space.

Our goal is to empower human activity in the Solar System to enable the objective of greater human flourishing, pioneering the exploration of Mars. Erase the conceptual barrier between earthbound life and activities across the Solar System. The sphere of human action is one continuum. We can no longer think of choices between attending to life on Earth or reaching into outer space. These are false options. Our interests and investments span both—seamlessly safeguarding our interests
to the furthest reach of the expansion of human activity. Our values and ideals endure altitudes and gravitational fields. We should extend the actions and principles of keeping our people free, safe, and prosperous in earthly affairs to our deepest horizons.

We have three tasks. 

We must:
1. Lead in establishing de facto that access to and freedom to operate in space remains as vital and inviolable as freedom of the sea—actively defending the “freedom of the Solar System.” This requires having the capacity to protect free trade and travel and defend space infrastructure. This is much more than just advocating for norms, but having the
capability to achieve and enforce the actual outcomes we want in the space domain. To accomplish this, space forces must have a robust offense-defense mix, or the right balance of sensors versus shooters. Friends, allies, and partners that wish to share the
benefits of the commons must contribute to the common defense of space infrastructure. China must be deterred and blocked from malicious space activity.

2. Win the competition for leading a new era of space commercial technology including commercial activities that extend into the Solar System. The objective is not only grow space business but growing our capacity to do business in space.

3. Eliminate barriers to growing space power including empowering human resources, investment, research, use of energy and natural resources, and expanding industrial capacity. We must reduce by 1,000 times the cost of deliver a ton of cargo into space.

Future Life in Space
There is no distinction in responsibility, opportunity, or morality between life on-Earth or off-Earth. There is only life. God endowed humans with the capacity to explore and expand in the preservation of inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In testing the limits of human reach, we follow God’s will. If we do this right, not abusing God’s gift, we promote human flourishing for our people and the worlds on which we dwell.

Vision must comport to both the realities of operating in space and the nature of all human activity. The notion that human endeavors in space can be conducted or managed differently from human action on Earth is fatuous. The physical environment and how one operates is very
different in space, but human nature and economic principles don’t change.

Utopian visions of life in space are no more realistic than they were for creating paradise on this planet. Nor do we have to give into an irrational fear that competition in space will inevitably lead to war, disaster, or rapacious exploitation and degradation of environments and peoples. We choose and shape our destiny.

The great adventure of expanding humanity’s reach in space, however, is no easy task. The experience of the previous great ages of human exploration and expansion on earth are not just our past. They are our future in space. There will be competition, tragedy, loss, achievement,
problems and progress. This is inevitable. The challenges can only be met with determination and resilience, deliberation and responsible action.
No human activity is free of malefactors.

We should be clear-eyed. China’s vision for space seeks a naked expansion of power, dominance, and appropriation. China has both the means and will to realize its vision. Beijing has malicious partners and fellow travelers. Astropolitical competition will inevitably be an extension of geopolitics. That is unavoidable. We cannot create a framework for equitable cooperation with adversarial powers in space. We must deny them the ways and means to push their totalitarian governance on all of humanity.
The free world has the power to disrupt and outmatch China’s ambition in space. This will require decades of effort across multiple administrations and governments, rising to this challenge to safeguard its own economic and military interests and to secure the promise of human flourishing. If we fail to adopt and implement a strategy for success in space, then world
will forfeit its future to China.

Current Assessment

Increasingly, China and other adversaries (in collaborative effort) are already and will increasingly export grey zone tactics, to include dual-use technologies, to space. We needcomprehensive national efforts to assess, let alone counter, these threat, requiring better efforts to
ensure cooperation across space agencies; balance civil and national security space; integrate commercial space; and improve joint efforts with allies and partners. Beijing’s global narrative is that China’s role in space is beneficial to humanity. This is a lie. Yet, China is persuading people in Western societies and elsewhere that China’s space
infrastructure is for the benefit of humanity, offering developing countries subsidized space infrastructure. We must effectively counter China in this sphere of competition nor be thwarted Beijing’s manipulative efforts to monopolize international and multinational institutions. Further, we have not adequately protected its intellectual property from Chinese exploitation and expropriation. Space will emerge as the most important domain of warfare in determining the victory of war on
earth. Space has proven to be a rapidly evolving domain in terms of congestion and enemy counterspace capabilities. A far-reaching space vision and strategy, resources and supported by the right capabilities, is needed to accomplish the missions of future space forces.

Commercial space technology has demonstrated incredible innovation and potential. We must fully exploit it.
Cislunar space (the area surrounding Earth, extending up to the Moon’s orbit) is an essential strategic domain for national security and commercial opportunity. Current efforts are not robust
enough to be assured a dominant role in this region.

From Vision to Strategy
Free nations must be able to defend their vital interests. That, however, is not sufficient. We must move from a positive vision to embrace the strategy of exploration, expansion, exploitation, and exclusion (denial of malfeasance in outer space). Here we address the priorities for both.

Providing for the Common Defense
Restoring deterrence in space is the single greatest and most important task for ensuring the extension of humanity into space. We believe in peace through strength on earth and beyond.

Within the decade, we must be able to defend against all types of counterspace attack from China—both kinetic and non-kinetic. The best deterrent strategy requires an offense-defense mix—sufficient capacity to protect and defense space systems and hold at risk what adversaries
hold vital.

Situational awareness of space activity is important, but completely inadequate. Our space situational awareness is our eyes in the sky and ability to see what friendly and enemy satellites are doing. This is a foundational capability, but we are woefully behind. We need to do better here, as well as with offensive/defensive counterspace. This requires two kinds of robust capabilities: traditional launch (for missions including C2, ISR, situational awareness) and counterspace (including kinetic, non-kinetic, and electronic weapons, such jammers and spoofer,
and cyber).

The space forces we need should have the authorities, doctrine, acquisition programs, and the capability to defend space systems that support other armed forces, as well as conduct offensive operations and maneuver to ensure space superiority. Within a decade we should have capacity to deploy sustained on-orbit maneuvering capabilities to defend critical assets (dynamic space operations—maneuver assets and effects to place at a time that provides an advantage over an adversary). Likewise, we should have bold offensive military doctrine as well as the means to train and exercise that doctrine including training and exercises with friends, partners, and allies. Friends, allies, and partners in space must commit to the defense of space infrastructure to partner with one another. Enjoying the freedom to operate in space cannot be a free lunch.

Going on Offense
We cannot eliminate barriers to exploring and expanding in space if we hamstring our efforts with self-imposed political constraints. Reducing obstacles not only requires removing regulatory obstacles but embracing meritorious management practices that leverage and reward the strength of markets and innovation.  In addition, educational policies that hinder knowledge transfer are the number one obstacle to the inability to produce an adequate future science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing workforce (STEM) for a spacefaring people. Fixing
our education system is a prerequisite for long-term competition in space.

Education is much more important than indoctrination.
The priorities of industrial space policies should be to (1) limit strategic vulnerabilities to adversarial powers, (2) removing competitive obstacles, (3) harnessing free market solutions private sector and private-public partnerships that take advantage of the free enterprise and
innovation system, (4) setting objectives for on-orbit services, exploration, space tourism, and space manufacturing for the next 50 years, and (5) deliver the authorities, capacity, and capability to ensure the “right of free peoples to engage in commercial exploration for and
commercial recovery of space resources free from harmful interference.”
Go on the diplomatic offense. We should reject additional outer space treaties. The Artemis Accords were crafted as a functional alternative to guide future action. We know adversarial powers will never agree to responsible treaties that are beneficial to the actions of all. Rather we
should: (1) lead by example, in space action; (2) safeguard our interests in international multinational forums; (3) highlight destabilizing and deleterious adversarial behavior from military threats to orbital debris. Punish China and other malefactors for violating treaty
obligations. We should have a corps of trained spaced diplomats, required by law, to support these objectives. Civil Space Strategy. While security and civil space go hand-in-hand and programs must be complementary, civil space require a distinct strategy to balance three equally important goals—exploration, science, and commerce. Programs should be integrated and phased as they, done right, enhance one another: phase one-exploration; phase two-science and presence, phase three-commerce and expansion. Within 10 years, the free world should be the preeminent and dominant power in cislunar space.
In addition, we should strive to have permanent human presence on the Moon and Mars.