Book review: ‘Astropolitics 3.0 — Reality Check’ by Frank Blue

Frank Blue’s series on contemporary issues now tackles international competition in space with ‘Astropolitics 3.0 — Reality Check’. This 335 page book takes the space-focused efforts of and competition between nations as a basis and expands to include those between commercial entities and governments. There’s a lot to cover, with the competition between the U.S. and China taking center stage and other relations described in varying degrees. Does he manage to do it, and does he do it well? There are no blanket answers to either question, but the short answer is that unless you have an in-depth knowledge of the current state of astropolitics, there is certainly something to learn in ‘Astropolitics 3.0 — Reality Check’.

Astropolitics 3.0 — Reality Check: The Content

‘Astropolitics 3.0 — Reality Check’ has a lot of ground to cover. In terms of Sino – American relations and commercial – government (primarily U.S.) connections, Blue goes into enough detail to bring a space enthusiast up to speed. Regarding European endeavours, there are sufficient details at both the national and international levels to familiarize the reader, though the commercial connections are not as prevalent – perhaps a reflection of the differences in their importance not to the space industry per se, but to astropolitical affairs.

Russia sees scant attention, and given its fading star, this is understandable. However, in terms of astropolitics, there have been events that should have been mentioned to put the former superpower in the proper light. Blue does mention Russia’s deliberate destruction of a satellite in orbit – though neglecting to point out that the ISS has been repeatedly threatened by the debris from the event – and other reckless behaviour. He generally passes off Russian threats of space-borne nuclear anti-satellite objects as bluster whipped up by the U.S. for its own purposes, and, well, that’s his view on the issue. However, he does miss Russia’s seizure of over £ 120 million of OneWeb satellites in March 2022 as well as former Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin’s public death threats directed at Elon Musk. And for all the explanations of American and Chinese reasons for their actions, he never expounds upon Russia’s mad and ill-fated dash for the lunar south pole in August 2023. Moreover, Russian interference over the eastern Baltic Sea has been a primary contributor to the over 46,000 reports of GPS jamming and spoofing between August 2023 and March 2024. It’s not covered here. 

Regarding the U.S., there are a few points that could have been mentioned, such as Firefly’s ground breaking Victus Nox mission. However, for a critical view of the U.S. government and its launch contractors, including SpaceX, there is plenty to write about and he covers this in depth. 

The form 

The book’s shortcoming is in the editing and formatting. The pdf version provided needed both a copy editor and proofreader, and this turns an arguably fine book into a slog at times. However, the content does make the effort worthwhile. For those wanting to gain an understanding of the field, there is much to be learned here.

The book reads like a combination of longer essays and blog posts. In one sense, it makes it easy to focus on a single aspect of astropolitics, e.g. SpaceX and its relationship with U.S. government launch clients, by skipping through with the aid of the table of contents. However, it does take a read of the whole of the relevant content to get an idea of Frank Blue’s opinion of France, or of China, and of an actor’s motives. A close read will be the most rewarding.

OT’s Recommendation

‘Astropolitics 3.0 — Reality Check’ is quite a worthwhile read – for the patient. The formal problems with the .pdf version provided hinder understanding at times, as a few paragraphs are left unfinished, and one must assume an ending. Content-wise, the relative shortcomings in some areas can be forgiven considering the extensive coverage elsewhere. For those wanting to gain an understanding of the field, there is much to be learned here.

The book is available on Amazon.