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…

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…

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…