STEM's Future Uptick

If I were king, I would set our nation’s space program on a trajectory that would inspire not just the international community but our own youth. Using the Gravity Well as a focusing challenge, we could, one step at a time, explore and settle the terrain of space in our neighborhood of the Solar System. Today we are well on the way toward a developed economy in low Earth orbit. Farther out, NASA missions can deliver outposts at the Lagrangian points, the Moon, Mars, and asteroids, all within the next generation of students. But only if we set our American know-how to the task. A full effort will guarantee a dramatic uptick in the number of students in math, engineering, science and technology students. And it will nurture highly paid American workers who will drive our economy well into the future. In short, the drawing power of space must be utilized strategically.