The White House unveiled a broad new national space policy Monday, calling for more international cooperation and preserving space for U.S., foreign and commercial interests.

File photo of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

The sweeping 14-page document outlines a list of principles and goals, then gives guidance to federal agencies executing the policy.

Reinforcing previous White House announcements, the policy directs NASA to mount crewed missions to an asteroid by 2025 and send humans to orbit Mars by the mid-2030s. The International Space Station would also be extended to at least 2020.

"If there is one really broad theme, it is international cooperation, which is woven throughout the new policy and is our foundational emphasis for achieving all of our goals in space," said Barry Pavel, the National Security Council's senior director for defense policy and strategy.

The Obama administration orders agencies, in coordination with the State Department, to identify areas for international partnerships in space. The document includes references to both civil and military applications, specifying space science, human spaceflight, space nuclear power, space surveillance, missile warning, Earth observation, navigation, and disaster relief as potential areas of cooperation.

White House officials would not single out examples of future partnerships, saying it will be up to federal agencies, working with Obama administration, to fill in the details.

The International Space Station, already a 15-nation endeavor, could be an incubator for partnerships with new countries, but officials declined to discuss when more nations could be invited or when new partners could be added.

Jim Kohlenberger, chief of staff of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, repeated last week's denial from NASA that China had already been invited to join the orbiting lab project. The denial was in response to an Interfax news report posted on the Russian space agency's website claiming Russia put out feelers to Chinese officials.

"I think it's a little premature to talk about China and the space station," Kohlenberger said Monday. "It's obviously a very complex policy issue."

Kohlenberger said NASA and China have an ongoing dialogue on space policy, but "there are no imminent plans to include China [on the space station] at this point." Any additions to the space station would have to be approved by all of the program's partners, according to Kohlenberger.

Space debris is a growing threat to all space-faring nations. Credit: NASA

The Obama directive places more emphasis on international cooperation than the national space policy released by President George W. Bush in 2006.

The Bush policy promoted partnerships "that further the peaceful exploration and use of space, as well as to advance national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives."

But President Obama takes space cooperation a step further, calling for more transparency and collaboration in space debris monitoring and mitigation, preserving space for humanity's future use, and encouraging "responsible actions in, and the peaceful use of, space."

"We will expand our work in the United Nations and with other organizations to address the growing problem of orbital debris and to promote 'best practices' for its sustainable use," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement. "The United States will also pursue pragmatic transparency and confidence-building measures to mitigate the risk of mishaps, misperceptions, and miscalculations."

Space debris is a growing problem for space-faring nations. The issue has been exacerbated by explosions, an accidental 2009 collision between U.S. and Russian spacecraft, and a Chinese military anti-satellite weapons test in 2007 that destroyed a defunct weather satellite.

The 2007 anti-satellite test and 2009 collision unleashed more than 250,000 new chunks of debris into orbit at least 1 centimeter, or 0.4 inches, in size, according to the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office.

The White House space policy also states the Pentagon and NASA should pursue new technologies to mitigate and remove orbital debris. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a Pentagon technology development division, is already weighing proposals for debris removal.

This chart shows the spike in orbital debris objects after the Chinese anti-satellite test of 2007 and the Iridium 33/Cosmos 2251 satellite collision of 2009. Credit: NASA

Peter Marquez, the National Security Council's director of space policy, said the national space policy also promotes a fair export control policy that balances national security and economic interests in the United States.

The Obama administration is in the midst of a review of the nation's export control policy, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations that hamper international sales of space hardware classified as munitions.

U.S. companies claim the laws have hurt business, sending lucrative launch and satellite contracts to Europe, Russia and China.

The national space policy keeps the export control laws intact, saying the United States will "work to stem the flow of advanced space technology to unauthorized parties."

But the White House plans to issue new marching orders on the export policy.

"When that export policy gets announced, it will supersede what's in this document," Marquez said. "The president has set a goal of increasing exports. We want to drive a competitive commercial space industry that is competitive both at home and abroad."