Washington Updates

On Nov. 18, the Space Foundation hosted a discussion and briefing for congressional staff on its Solutions from Space white paper, Space Applications for International Development. The paper recommends that governments in developing nations consider investing in affordable ground technology to provide satellite communication access in rural areas, particularly for clinics, schools, and other community centers.…

Space products and services, such as positioning systems and satellite communications, are widely used in the transportation, logistics, and manufacturing industries. Some examples, excerpted from the Space Foundation’s The Space Report 2009: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity are: Reducing crew workload in the maritime shipping industry through cellular, multimedia, and Internet access Automatically…

A Space Foundation white paper issued this fall strongly recommends that the United States keep the International Space Station (ISS) functioning until at least 2020 and beyond, if possible. The recommendation is the key message of a Space Foundation white paper, The International Space Station: Decision 2015, that argues for continued U.S. involvement to further scientific…

On Oct. 22, after months of deliberations, the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee released its final report. Among lawmakers there has been strong bi-partisan consensus that the current U.S. human space flight program is on an unsustainable trajectory that needs increased funding. However, lawmakers continue to debate the report’s prospective paths going…

The Space Foundation Government Affairs team spent a large portion of October debriefing space policy decision-makers on the Space Foundation-led mission to Chinese space facilities, which offered helpful insight into the future of Chinese human space flight initiatives. Led by Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham, the Space Foundation delegation comprised former shuttle astronaut and AVIATION…

The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), a non-governmental organization that represents students and young space professionals to the United Nations, member countries, and space agencies, has released a report that outlines a youth vision of the “spacescape” in the next decade. The Youth Space Vision for the Next Decade: Looking Back to Look Forward includes…

Space Foundation Research Analyst Mariel John presented two papers at the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Oct. 12-16, in Daejeon, South Korea. Both papers – Space Activities in Developing Nations: Contributions to Capacity Building and Innovation and Remote Sensing for Disease Prevention in Nigeria –  focused on Nigeria as a case study for the positive impact space activity can…

Participants at the 2nd Global Space Development Summit, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in partnership with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Space Foundation and the Chinese Society for Astronautics, will examine critical developments on issues of space exploration and Earth observations. Scheduled for Nov. 12-13 in Washington, D.C., the…

Creating a locally grown space program could be a key to development and growth for low-income countries, according to one of two papers being presented this month by Space Foundation Research Analyst Mariel John at the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Daejeon, South Korea. Using the Nigerian space program as a case study, John looked at the…

One of two papers presented by Space Foundation Research Analyst Mariel John this month at the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Daejeon, South Korea, examines the technical, programmatic, and political requirements for implementing an operational program to use remote sensing for disease prevention in Nigeria. With a fast-growing economy and a population of more…