Keywords:
• US defense department/
• space safety/
• space security/
• space policy/
• space strategy/
• space diplomacy/
• defense space/
• space debris/
• space industry/
• space sustainability

Abstract:In November 2012, the US Department of Defense released a new Space Policy Directive as a follow-up initiative to the release in 2010 of President Barack Obama’s National Space Policy and in 2011 of the National Security Space Strategy. The new DOD Directive showcases the latest perceptions of global strategic security environment in general and the outer space domain in particular on the part of the US military as well as the US government, highlighting new US defense space strategy and the new US thinking on how to effectively tackle the challenges of space safety, space security, space stability and space sustainability in the 21st century and beyond. Through background analysis and contents interpretations on the new Pentagon document followed by some policy proposals, this article provides some observations to forecast the US space policy trend during President Barack Obama’s second term in White House.