Project Description

OPEN AND DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE PAPER HERE: Creating a Courageous 21st Century Space Policy

It is time for a new 21st century policy, one that is based on a sound philosophical foundation and robust faith in the future that made our nation great, and one that will bring lasting benefits to the nation and the world. The underlying philosophy is that the economic development of the resources of the solar system will solve many of the problems facing our planetary civilization of over 9 billion humans living by the year 2050.  The policy is to use the vigor, innovation, and growing abilities of the private sector as the centerpiece of our efforts.

The time is now to reach for the stars, beginning with new approach that leverages the full capacity of American ingenuity and free enterprise industrialism that quickly brings more of space into the world’s economic sphere, including low Earth orbit, cis-lunar space, the Moon, and beyond. The centerpiece is a Lunar Industrial Facility that will enable the production of industrial quantities of metals, water for propulsion, and a ubiquitous transportation infrastructure between the Earth and the Moon to harness the potential of this approach.  Evolving forward, this capability infrastructure could be leveraged to create a lunar shipyard where the Clipper ships of the 21st century will be built.  These reusable cycling vehicles will carry mankind to Mars, enable the mining of the asteroids, and bring forth the future economic development of the solar system in a compelling and sustainable way.

This foundation places the competitive free enterprise system as the primary agent for implementation, with the government as a stimulator, enabler, investor, and regulator of conduct.

For a generation we have added fear upon fear in our society.  Beginning in the 1970’s with books like the “Population Bomb”, “Limits to Growth”, and “Silent Spring”, the Y2K computer meltdown, as well as the anti-nuclear and anti-technology movements, we have been barraged with fear.  This continues today with the fear of continuing war, climate apocalypse and the “sixth great extinction event”.    Let us shake off the fear that drives so much today, marshal our courage, and boldly go forward in faith, bolstered by ingenuity, and executed with courage and vigor towards a brighter future.

OPEN AND DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE PAPER HERE: Creating a Courageous 21st Century Space Policy

About the Author:

Dennis Wingo is an engineering physicist and 39-year veteran of the computer, academic, and spaceflight communities.  Dennis designed and built flight systems for sounding rockets, the Shuttle, ISS, and the first NASA funded student built small satellite.  Dennis holds two patents and has published a book (Moonrush) concerning development of a commercial lunar industrial outpost.  Dennis also contributed to the National Defense University 2008 book “Toward a Theory of Space Power” regarding the economic development of the solar system.  Dennis led the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) at the NASA Ames Research Park, recovering and updating Apollo era lunar images.  Today Dennis and Skycorp have become the first private entity to rescue and operate a spacecraft (ISEE-3) in interplanetary space, an internationally acclaimed project accomplished in six weeks with $160k in crowd funding.

Dennis is the CEO of Skycorp Incorporated where his company works with NASA, DoD, and commercial customers to field advanced space solutions for the orbital assembly of spacecraft and lunar industrial development.