Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

China Launches Experimental Spaceplane

Friday, September 4, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats National Preparedness

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-launches-experimental-spaceplane-11599217896

China has claimed success in the secretive launch of an experimental spaceplane, recording the latest in a series of milestones for the country’s space program.

The rocket-mounted reusable spacecraft was lofted into orbit Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northern China’s Gobi Desert, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Unlike with recent high-profile missions, China’s National Space Administration didn’t announce the launch ahead of time. The mission will test the craft’s technology and “provide technical support for the peaceful use of space,” Xinhua said, without disclosing further details about its capabilities or the planned duration of its time in orbit.

Both China and the U.S. have secretive programs to develop unmanned, reusable spaceplanes. Last year, the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, which resembles a miniature version of the retired Space Shuttle, completed a 780-day mission in orbit.

A separate U.S. Experimental Spaceplane development program being run by Boeing Co. and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was abandoned earlier this year.

China has been working on its own spaceplane since at least 2007, when images of a craft known as the Shenlong slung beneath the wing of a Chinese bomber first circulated widely in Chinese media. A state-run television station in northern China’s Shaanxi province reported in 2011 that the Shenlong had conducted a suborbital flight, though little else is known about the top-secret program.

Xinhua didn’t disclose whether the vehicle launched Friday was a version of the Shenlong or a completely new spacecraft.

Last year the state-run China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics released images it said showed wind-tunnel tests of a prototype spaceplane with the capability to launch horizontally from a larger aircraft before using a powerful propulsion system to blast itself into orbit.

China launched its first mission to Mars in July, the latest in a string of missions that have underscored its growing challenge to the U.S.’s long-held status as the world’s leading space power. The country aims to have an operational space station by 2022 and a manned lunar base by 2045.

Last year, the U.S. established a military Space Command to counter perceived threats in space, chiefly from China and Russia.

Photo and Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-launches-experimental-spaceplane-11599217896

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