The U. S. Must be first with the space elevator in order to maintain superiority in space Kent 07

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Leadership Uniqueness

The rest of the world is venturing into space now, the US will be left behind.

Zey 10 (Dr. Michael G., exec. dir. of the Expansionary Institute, Ph. D. in Sociology from Rutgers University, http://www.examiner.com/future-trends-in-national/as-us-abandons-manned-flight-china-russia-europe-train-for-space-colonization-with-mars500) OP
From the 1950s to the 1970s the United States and the former USSR dominated space exploration. Now, a number of countries, including a variety of European and Asian countries as well as Brazil have been sending up communication and military satellites and making preparations for ambitious manned space missions. A few years ago China became the third nation to launch a human into space. Japan just announced its plans to establish a robotic moon colony by 2020. To prepare for human space flight to distant orbs, a number of countries this week initiated a project called Mars500, a mission designed to examine the physical and psychological stresses astronauts might encounter during a 520-day trip to Mars. An international team of six researchers will experience this simulated manned mission to Mars housed in a virtual spacecraft sitting inside a large hangar at Moscow's Institute for Medical and Biological Problems. The spacecraft is actually a series of interconnected steel cylinders called "Bochka," or barrel. Inside the spacecraft are small (32 square feet) windowless living quarters, personal cabins furnished with a bed, desk, chair and shelves. The self-contained environment is equipped with enough food, water, and other supplies to last the whole trip as well as video games, books, and other materials to amuse the crew during their leisure hours. The crew will spend the first 250 days “flying” to Mars, and after landing will explore the simulated model of the Martian terrain attached to the spacecraft module. Then the crew will embark on a 230-day return flight, finally exiting the enclosed environment in November, 2011. The six-person crew was chosen from hundreds of applicants. The commander, a recently-married Russian commander named Aleksei Sitev, 38, has worked at Russia’s cosmonaut training centre. The doctor, Sukhrob Kamolov, 32, and one of the researchers, Aleksander Smoleyevsky, 33, are also Russian. Other researchers include Wang Yue, 26, from China’s space training centre, and Diego Urbina, 27, an Italian- Colombian. The flight engineer is 31 year old Frenchman Romain Charles. Mars500 will provide these countries with a wealth of knowledge about the technological obstacles and psychological trials and tribulations a space crew will encounter both during the flight to Mars and while on the planet itself. By mission’s end China, Russia, and the European Space Agency will be years ahead of the US on the space learning curve. Clearly the US is falling behind in the global space race. Recently the Obama administration decided to direct NASA's funding away from manned space flight to the Moon and beyond. The US is even ending its shuttle program this year. Although the President did give lip service to the goal of colonizing Mars in the mid-2030s, many critics, including Mars Society president Robert Zubrin, were unmoved by this weak and ambiguous commitment to space exploration. "It basically means that they don't have to start working on it while they're in office," Zubrin said. Sadly, it appears that Obama plans to expend little energy or resources on the space program for the remainder of his term. He will provide the occasional “vote of confidence” to private companies such as SpaceX when they successfully launch rockets they have constructed. However, while SpaceX’s recent successful launch of Falcon 9 is laudable, many have suggested that the company was merely replicating technological feats NASA achieved half a century ago. The Mars500 program must serve as a wake-up call to the administration and the American public that the rest of the world is about to venture “where no man has gone before,” and leave America in its “space dust” in the process. The next Congress must pressure the President to reconsider his decision to decelerate the US space program, and convince him to begin the process of restoring the American space program to its former glory.

Now is the key time to reaffirm our space leadership.

Defense News 11 (Defense News is part of the Gannett Government Media Corporation and the leading military and government news periodical publisher in the world, Boeing Chief: U.S. Should Lead in Space Tech, http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3469482&c=AIR&s=TOP) OP
James Albaugh, Boeing president and chief executive, warned that the United States risks losing a leadership role in space if Congress and military leaders don't reinvest in new space technologies over the next decade. "We can't afford the so-called rebuilding years of our space capability," he said during an April 8 speech at the National Space Symposium, here. "The next decade must be about reaffirming our leadership role in space." While Congress debates how it will fill the gap after the shuttle is retired and a new NASA launch technology is made operational, and military leaders scramble to develop new measures to protect U.S. satellites, Albaugh said, the next decade for the U.S. space program will be its "most crucial" since the 1950s. To keep the U.S. space program ahead of international competitors like China, Albaugh said, advancing space propulsion technologies by cutting its astronomical costs and increasing its efficiency will be critical. "We must identify the enabling technologies that with commitment and openness to big ideas will allow us to take the next big bold step forward," he said. "In my view, propulsion is the great enabler." NASA tapped Boeing to help develop the Ares I rocket designed to launch astronauts into space after the retirement of the space shuttle. It will construct the upper stage and instrument unit avionics starting in late 2009. A year after China demonstrated its ability to attack satellites by striking one of its own weather satellites with a ballistic missile, Albaugh said, it's also important to develop methods to protect U.S. space assets. Air Force Space Command officials have said increasing the Department of Defense's ability to monitor space assets and potential attacks tops their priority list. Boeing was contracted to help develop the Air Force's Space Based Space Surveillance system back in 2004. "We can clearly see our international competitors fast approaching in the rear view mirror," he said. "This is not the time to take a backseat. If we do, the consequences will be non-recoverable and future generations will judge us harshly."

Must start developing space now – China has the potential to challenge US supremacy

AFAR 2004 (The Association for Asian Research is a non-profit, non-governmental research institute that provides current affairs stories. The Chinese Threat to American Leadership in Space (Part II), http://asianresearch.org/articles/2979.html) hss
For the already cited Colonel Stokes, the fact that China has sent a man into Space is not worrisome in itself, but rather indicates the technological level now achieved by China in the field of space carriers, as Beijing - worrying over the possibility of losing definitive control over Taiwan - “is developing space-based capabilities that could be used in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait”, aware that “Space assets will play a major role in any future use of force against Taiwan and in preventing foreign intervention in a Taiwan scenario”. The technical progress derived from initiating the Shenzhou 5 operation and subsequent “manned missions” could be used to develop not only ballistic missiles, but also anti-satellite weapons and mini-satellites for espionage. According to USA experts, Beijing will be able to launch small recognition satellites within the next three to five years to control China's periphery and the eastern Pacific Ocean. With regard to the space program's success - one that has been supported by a strong political will as the presupposition of its geostrategic vision - China, therefore, has the potential to challenge the US supremacy in Space, especially now that it is supported by significantly increasing funds. In March 2002 the Chinese Financial Minister, Xiang Huaicheng, announced an increase in military expenditure for 2002 of 17.5%, “…bringing the publicly reported total to $20 billion” (NASA currently receives $15.5 billion a year, while "Unclassified U.S. military space programs command a further $8.5 billion a year in federal spending.”). Consequently, this makes China the second greatest military spender in the world and the first in Asia. Moreover, the rate of Chinese economic growth has suggested to American analysts that “annual defense spending could increase in real terms three to four fold between now and 2020”.

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