Space policy roundup – March.1.2021 | Space-for-All at HobbySpace

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest (find previous space policy roundups here):

Schedule:
- What’s Happening in Space Policy February 28-March 6, 2021 – SpacePolicyOnline.com
- DARPA NOM4D Proposers Day – Feb.26.2021 Webinar for Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D)
- Tear Down the Wall: Breaking the silos that divide the global space community = SCF Video 7 Tickets, Fri, Mar 5, 2021 at 5:00 PM | Eventbrite
- New Space in Asia: Implications of the Rise of the Chinese Commercial Space Sector in Asia and Beyond – STIG International Workshop – STIG (Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance at Univ. of Tokyo) – Tuesday 9 March 2021, 17:30-19:00 (JST: Japan Standard Time)
- Growing Research Careers with Suborbital Flight Testing | NASA – Webinar – Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 10:00AM-11:00AM PST
Biden space:
NASA Management:
NASA lunar programs:
- NASA says maintaining competition a priority for lunar lander procurement – SpaceNews
US space goals:
- Poll Shows Public’s Space Priority is Monitoring Earth, Not Sending People to the Moon or Mars – SpacePolicyOnline.com
- Recent Poll Suggests Low Public Support for U.S. Exploration to the Moon or Mars – 90.7 WMFE
NASA planetary programs:
- NASA tests the perseverance of some space enthusiasts – The Space Review
SLS/Orion:
NASA human spaceflight:
Commercial space:
- The promise of return on investment does not disappear in cislunar space and beyond – The Space Review
Regulation/Export Control:
- SpaceX and the importance of security in the new space race – Washington Times
Space law:
- U.S. to support international effort to set rules of behavior in space – SpaceNews
Space traffic & environment issues:
- Opinion: What Space Traffic Management measures must be internationally implemented to improve the safety and sustainability of outer space? – SpaceWatch.Global
US states space:
- Spaceport America litigation protection bill passes in New Mexico – Las Cruces Sun
US Defense space:

International space

Webcasts:

** Episode 30: Space Weapons and the Outer Space Treaty – Space Thoughts (YouTube) – Space Law & Policy Solutions/Michael Listner

** Space Café WebTalk – Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland #1 – 28. January 2021 – spacewatch. global – News Room – YouTube

In this first Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, global space law experts discuss the legal issues from everyday space activities.

Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland” analysed current space developments with a legal focus. It, at the same time discussed and ‘demystifyed’ the law for everyone.

In this episode Host Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia and Co-Host Torsten Kriening, SpaceWatch.Global’s Publisher and their invited guests discussed:

The recent Chang’e 5 and Hayabusa2 missions
The various Starlink/SpaceX/Starship program
The just announced US Space Policy/approach and the priorities of the incoming Biden administration regarding space

Our two exceptional experts were:
Donna Lawler, commercial space lawyer and Principal, AZIMUTH Advisory
Chris Newman, Professor, Northumbria University

** To the moon, Mars, and beyond: Space exploration and public policy | American Enterprise Institute – AEI

For decades, a prevailing sentiment in America has been that the money spent on the space race would be better spent on domestic problems. As a result, the US space program has not fulfilled its potential for several decades. But this perspective is shortsighted; many technologies we take for granted came from midcentury investments in the space program, and there is no telling what innovations we forego by failing to support space exploration today. Fortunately, private actors have begun revitalizing the US space program, and the public sphere has also shown a renewed interest. This panel discusses why America should renew its commitment to exploring space and the actions policymakers and private actors should take to facilitate America’s return to the final frontier.

Panelists:
Tim Fernholz, Senior Reporter, Quartz
Sara Seager, Professor of Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stan Veuger, Resident Scholar, AEI
Matthew C. Weinzierl, Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Moderator:
James Pethokoukis, DeWitt Wallace Fellow, AEI

** Sino-Russian ties for the Moon, Geely’s Satellite Factory, New CN Space Report – News Roundup Ep 21 – Dongfang Hour – YouTube

1) Russia and China close to signing an MoU on Lunar Exploration…
2) Release of a new report on the Chinese space sector …
3) Announcement by Geely about their satellite factory getting the “green light”…

** Constellations, a New Space and Satellite Innovation Podcast: 96 – Ground- and Space-based Telescopes, Space Factories and the New Space Economy – – Constellations Podcast

Earth Observation, Space Situational Awareness and Contested/Congested Space are terms increasingly heard in satellite and space media, brought about, in part, by the growing accessibility and democratization of the space industry. Our guest, Gino Bucciol – Co-founder and Chief Development Officer at Officina Stellare, a company based in Italy active in the design and production of telescopes, optomechanical, and aerospace instrumentation for ground and space-based applications will touch on each of these.

Listen as Gino discusses the difference between ground-based and space-based telescopes; the former best suited for research, astronomy and defense applications like weapon tracking; while the latter is most often used for debris tracking, satellite collision avoidance, or laser communication. Gino further discusses why telescopes are perfect to provide information on an object’s angular position, thanks to their extremely high resolution, while radar is perfect to obtain a precise measurement of the object’s distance.

Gino attributes launch reduction costs and availability of space compliant technologies as key contributors to the creation of the “New Space Economy” where private companies can now do business in space.

** The Space Show – Sunday, Feb.28.2021 – Open lines program welcomed discussion of topics suggested by listeners. “Robert Jacobson started us off with his commercial space update. We then took multiple calls from callers on lots of subjects including space settlement, children and childbirth for space settlement, Mars, Moon and much more.”

** Hotel Mars – The Space Show/John Batchelor Show – Wed. Feb.24,2021 – John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston “discussed the latest Mars rover, Perseverance, the landing, the parachute message and more”.

** The Space Show – Tuesday, Feb.23.2021– Dr. Haym Benaroya and Rohith Dronadula of Rutgers University discussed the potential of hybrid lunar inflatable structures:

** What can we expect from the next phase of space innovation? #47 – The Brave | Acast

With the increasing visibility of private space companies, the safe arrival of the Perseverance rover on Mars, and renewed interest in space exploration, it seems like space is now solidly back in the public imagination.

We traditionally associate space innovation with the US, China and Russia, but the UK is at the forefront of the new space economy, with 5.1% share of the global space market and plans to capture 10% by 2030.

In this episode I speak to Melissa Thorpe, Interim Head of Spaceport Cornwall, about the next phase of space innovation, how horizontal launch capabilities are being built here in the UK, and the economic and technological opportunities this will provide.

(Spaceport Cornwall is the horizontal space launch site at Cornwall Airport Newquay, in South West England. Spaceport Cornwall is a partnership between Cornwall Council, commercial launch operator Virgin Orbit and Goonhilly Earth Station. The consortium will deliver small satellite launch into lower Earth Orbit, for the first time ever from the UK by 2022.)

** Social License to Operate for Lunar Resources Activities – IASC COMMONS – YouTube

Special Topic Webinar
Moderator: Antonino Salmeri, Space Generation Advisory Council – Luxembourg
Panelists:
Ian Christensen, Secure World Foundation – USA
Ruvimbo Samanga, Open Lunar Foundation – Zimbabwe

The proposed live panel would explore the usefulness of the “social license to operate” concept for managing space resource activities, with a special focus on the Moon. The term “Social License to Operate” (SLO) indicates a series of measures agreed between a mining company and the community where it operates with the goal of establishing guidelines for fair and sustainable extraction activities.

The applicability of SLO within the context of space resources activities has been firstly introduced by the Socio-Economic Panel of The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group. This work suggested that considering the SLO for space resources might provide a conceptual framework through which affected sociocultural, heritage and environmental factors might be considered in governance. Since then, the topic has been further researched by the Space Exploration Project Group of Space Generation Advisory Council, as well as by the Open Lunar Foundation. At the latest International Astronautical Congress, the SEPG presented a first follow-up research investigating the development of a Lunar SLO, covering the relevant rationale, as well as proposed objectives and governance mechanisms.

Based on these findings, the panel will discuss the merits and drawbacks of developing a Lunar SLO, as well as suitable models for its concrete application. The future development of a Lunar SLO is one that will encompass multi-level, multi-stakeholder initiatives, towards sustainable resource utilization. More so than that, a balancing of interests between community and operators is required. To this end, the diverse pool of proposed panelists will promote a cross-disciplinary, intergenerational, and multinational dialogue with the goal of representing the various viewpoints of the space community.

** Moving towards space traffic coordination and management – IASC COMMONS – YouTube

Special Topic Webinar
Moderator: Brian Weeden, Secure World Foundation – USA
Panelists:
Dan Oltrogge, Center for Space Standards, AGI – USA
Sujai Shivakumar, National Academy of Public Administration – USA
Quentin Verspieren, University of Tokyo – Japan

For much of the last sixty years of space activities, a few national militaries have developed capabilities to track and monitor objects and activities in orbit around the Earth. The recent growth in commercial, civil, and international space activities and an overall number of satellites has stretched those current capabilities to their breaking point and highlighted gaps in how countries provide authorization and oversight of rapidly expanding space activities. Space Traffic Coordination and Management has been debated in various forms for nearly as long but has achieved new salience in recent years, particularly in the United States. The panel will describe current initiatives towards a polycentric framework for governance that brings together concerned agencies of the U.S. government, contributions from commercial actors, and other space nations and international actors.

** E53 – Space Security/SSA – A View From Europe – Aerospace Corp Space Policy (Vimeo) – Center for Space Policy & Strategy (CSPS)

** Yan Song – How Can We Solve the Challenge of Operationalizing Cultural Development? – CSP S04E04 – Cold Star Technologies – YouTube

Systems Thinking thought leader and Fortune 500 executive Yan Song is our guest on this first episode of a series on the Cold Star Project. Our series topic is about culture in organizations. The question we’re asking in this episode is: How can we solve the 21st Century challenge of operationalizing cultural development? Begin with the possibility that we can build culture development right into our operations, and have our people improve it as they carry out their daily tasks.