Svetla Ben-Itzhak

Svetla Ben-Itzhak

Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, West Space Seminar, Air War College, Air University

Svetla Ben-Itzhak is an Assistant Professor of Space Seminar and International Security at Air University with the West Space Seminar, Air War College. Prior to this position, she taught for many years at Kansas State University. She has developed and taught classes on space security, international security, global security threats, US politics, and applied linguistics, among others.

One of her current research interests is studying current and past power configurations in space politics in order to project their long-term effects on international relations on the ground as well as their future developments in space. Within this general theme, she is building a quantitative database on space power capabilities. She is also completing a book on Space Security (contracted with the MIT Press). For more information, check her website.

Latest articles by Svetla Ben-Itzhak

SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk at a NASA prelaunch briefing in 2020.

SpaceX's Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president. Here's what it could mean for US space policy (op-ed)

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak published

Space Exploration
Russia controls six modules aboard the International Space Station.

Space Blocs: The future of international cooperation in space is splitting along lines of power on Earth

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak published

Even during times of conflict on the ground, space has historically been an arena of collaboration among nations. But trends in the past decade suggest the nature of cooperation in space is shifting.

Earth
Both the U.S. and China have plans to establish bases on the Moon in the near future.

Is the US in a space race against China?

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak published

Headlines proclaiming the rise of a new "space race" between the U.S. and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years.

Space Exploration
China and the U.S. both have big plans for the moon, but there are a number of reasons why no country could actually claim ownership of any land there.

NASA's head warned that China may try to claim the moon — two space scholars explain why that's unlikely to happen

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak, R. Lincoln Hines published

China is unlikely to claim control over the moon despite concerns of NASA chief Bill Nelson. Here is why.

The moon
In the next decade, both a U.S.-led group and a collaboration between Russia and China aim to set up bases on the Moon.

Space Blocs: The future of international cooperation in space is splitting along lines of power on Earth

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak published

Some scholars predict a future in which single states pursue various levels of dominance, while others foresee a scenario in which commercial entities bring nations together.

International Space Station
A giant asteroid struck Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

An asteroid impact could wipe out an entire city — a space security expert explains NASA's plans to prevent a potential catastrophe

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak published

Cosmic bodies, like asteroids and comets, are constantly zooming through space and often crash into our planet, and some can be cause for concern.

Asteroids