​Against domination: On the U.S. attitude towards space programmes

Just as Firefly Aerospace became the first private entity to soft-land a robotic lander on the moon on March 2, NASA acting administrator Janet Petro said “the way that we keep America first is by dominating in all the domains of space. Vice-President at the White House meeting with the Ukraine President clarified the U.S.’s self-serving priorities, so too does Ms. Petro’s comment reveal a nakedly aggressive streak in American policy — in this case, what the U.S. sees as its rightful place in humankind’s aspirations about space. Given the bent of the FAA’s and Ms. Petro’s statements, there is no reason these commons will escape the U.S.’s reckless visions of domination without proactive decision-making. In the absence of the ability to defy its government’s orders, NASA’s position risks endangering international cooperation — an enviable edifice assembled over decades in the face of an expensive, perilous, time-consuming affair — in space flight, often with NASA input. Given the Trump administration’s attitudes towards other cooperative efforts, such as the fight against climate change, which demand internationalism over provincialism, it is imperative that national and supranational space bodies, including the Indian Space Research Organisation, come together to cultivate mechanisms to resist unilateral action in space, if not prevent it altogether.