February 12, 2018
With China, Russia looming, SpaceX launch is about more than Mars
SpaceX has reached another milestone with the successful launch of Falcon Heavy. The launch is another example of the organization’s persistent ability to innovate and push market expansion.
In the short term, the launch probably won’t add to SpaceX’s bottom lineall that much, there just isn’t enough heavy lift demand. So why is the launch such a big deal? The importance of Tuesday’s maiden Falcon Heavy flight is less about the immediate financial return for SpaceX and more about what it signifies vis-à-vis America’s interest in space and the country’s ability to leverage the free market system to develop the burgeoning space domain ahead of our peers.
Maintaining America’s advantage in space has both economic and national security implications.
Read the full article in The Hill.
More from CNAS
-
U.S.-Iran War Risks Repeated Cycles of Fighting
Shifting US objectives and neither side able to secure a decisive military victory make a lasting resolution difficult and Bloomberg Economics Defense Lead and adjunct senior ...
By Becca Wasser
-
Iran and the U.S. Are Trapped In a War Neither Knows How to Win
Both the US and Iran have adopted military strategies that can prevent defeat but cannot produce a decisive victory....
By Becca Wasser
-
GenAI.mil and Three Implications for National Security’s AI Era
Introduction Roughly six months ago, the Department of War (DoW) launched its internal platform for hosting generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, known as GenAI.mil....
By Joshua Marcuse
-
Inside Taiwan’s Plan to Deter a Chinese Invasion
As Taiwan runs its largest annual war games this week, we look at its strategy of overwhelming any Chinese invasion force with mass-produced, low-cost drones. It's a defense s...
By Stacie Pettyjohn
