Space Education & Strategic Applications Volume 2, Number 1, Fall 2020/Winter 2021 | Page 74

Space Education and Strategic Applications Journal
Traffic Management even states the Department of Commerce should assume this responsibility from the DoD due to increasing orbital expansion . The report views the DoD as not capable of handling the expanded scale necessary to deal with orbital debris and control , then classified Space Situational Awareness as a public good ( Hitchens , 2020 ). Mitigation works best when more views are involved and growing new federal and commercial partnerships could help develop excellent solutions to space ’ s inherent threats and vulnerabilities .
5 . The Case for Space

Making a case for space as an independent CI sector requires evaluating the three hypotheses . For the first hypothesis , a subjective assessment was made as to whether each sector contributed to public health , public safety , and an economic benefit . Public health was evaluated as to whether the general health and well-being of the public would deteriorate if the sectors were unavailable . Public safety was assessed as whether a lack of standardization , control , or limited resource usage would be detrimental to overall public safety . The final element , economic benefit , again considered subjectively whether the area proved beneficial to overall U . S . finances and production capability . The below chart collates the scores to evaluate the first two hypotheses and then ranks both aggregate and individual sectors for comparison .

The first hypothesis , H1 , considers if space infrastructure provides beneficial public health , safety and economic results . Space was evaluated as making no contribution to public health , a positive benefit to public safety and a positive benefit to the overall economy .
H1 . If space industry infrastructure is protected than significant value will be preserved to the general public safety , health and economic outcomes for U . S . citizens .
This resulted in a combined score of . 7 for the H1 hypothesis . Compared to the aggregated sectors , Space ranks above all except Digital Spaces , ranking two among the six aggregated categories . When compared to individual sectors , the rank for space scores below Energy , Communications , and Information Technology while ties with four of the remaining thirteen and outranks the final nine .
Space cannot currently be considered as beneficial to public health . No direct benefits derive from space which make public health better daily . However , GNSS must be considered beneficial to daily public safety from a navigation and mapping perspective . Most relate to GNSS through the more common aspect , Global Positioning Systems ( GPS ) as related to electronic mapping services . In 2019 , global GNSS revenues were estimated at $ 97B , just short of one-third of the overall space revenue ( Satellite Industry Association , 2020 ). While individual navigation revenues may be limited , the RTI International group estimated that GPS has generated $ 1.4T in economic benefits since its
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