SWF September 2016 Newsletter

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Upcoming Events
Sep 5–Sep 9, 2016
Latin American Satellite Data Requirements Meeting in Curaçao

Sep 19–Sep 23, 2016
Digital Elevation Model Development Workshop in Nepal

Sep 22, 2016
AMOS Dialogue in Maui

Upcoming Engagements
Sep 5–Sep 8, 2016
Chris Johnson will be speaking at the 10th United Nations Workshop on Space Law, at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

Sep 12–Sep 15, 2016
Michael Simpson, Brian Weeden, and Ian Christensen will participate in the AIAA Space Commercialization Executive Summit and the AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition 2016 in Long Beach, CA.

Sep 16, 2016
Michael Simpson will be speaking about the Next Space Age at the Rotary in Boulder.

Sep 20, 2016
Chris Johnson will be speaking at the International Bar Association's Space Law Committee panel in Washington D.C.

Sep 26-30, 2016
Michael Simpson, Lisa Croy, Victoria Samson, Brian Weeden, Chris Johnson, Ian Christensen, and Nicole Nir will be attending and participating in the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Experts in the Media
Aug 3, 2016
Victoria Samson Quoted in Digital Trends on ASATs

Aug 8, 2016
Brian Weeden Quoted by the Daily Beast on New Russian Spy Satellite Capabilities

Aug 18, 2016
Brian Weeden Quoted by Florida Today on Upcoming GSSAP Launch

Aug 18, 2016
Brian Weeden Quoted in National Defense Magazine on the Potential Benefits and Concerns of Small Satellites

Aug 26, 2016
Brian Weeden Quoted in The Economist on the Challenge of Dealing with Space Debris

Secure World Foundation Newsletter

September 2016

Insight - Small Satellites and Space Situational Awareness

By Brian Weeden, SWF Technical Advisor

The space world is currently experiencing rapid growth in new entrants and innovation. The growth and innovation are likely to lead to many new beneficial satellite applications, but there is some evidence they could have negative implications as well. An estimated 3,800 new satellites are projected to be launched between 2016 and 2020, which, if realized, would almost quadruple the population of active satellites from the 1,400 currently in orbit. Many of the projected new satellites are small satellites that will be launched into large constellations of hundreds or thousands, and some are even smaller cubesats that measure only 10 centimeters (4 inches) in size.

The growth in small satellites creates concerns for space situational awareness (SSA), which is our ability to characterize the space environment and carry out space activities in a safe and efficient manner...continue reading.

Events

Aug 8, 2016
Small Satellite Operator Best Practices for SSA and Conjunction Assessment
SWF held a side event at the 2016 SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah, to provide participants detailed information and best practices on how small satellite operators can work with SSA providers such as the U.S. military's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) and the non-governmental Space Data Association (SDA) to facilitate accurate and timely tracking and identification of their satellites and process warnings of close approaches with other space objects.

Staff Activities and Presentations

Aug 1-Sep 1, 2016
SWF Contributed Expertise to the 2016 ISU Space Studies Program
Chris Johnson, Michael Simpson, and Ian Christensen served as department faculty and guest lecturers at the 2016 ISU Space Studies Progra m in Haifa, Israel. Mr. Johnson was the Department Chair for the Space Policy, Economics, and Law department, and Mr. Christensen organized and moderated a joint activity between Mr. Johnson's class and the SSP's Management and Business department. Dr. Simpson also participated in Management and Business activities on commercial implications of technological and market disruption.

Aug 15-16, 2016
Brian Weeden Participated in Symposium Hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Mr. Weeden was invited to take part in an invite-only symposium hosted by LLNL which looked at the role of space in the context of the third offset strategy. Mr. Weeden spoke about the current and projected potential counterspace capabilities of potential US adversaries, and how the US should respond.

Aug 16-Aug 17, 2016
Ian Christensen Attended Space Technology and Investment Forum
Mr. Christensen attended the Space Foundation's invite-only Space Technology and Investment Forum, which gathered entrepreneurial space actors and venture capital funders. SWF was a supporting organization for the event.

Announcements

Aug 31, 2016
SWF Says Goodbye to Summer Intern
Ryan Wells, a graduate student at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, concluded his summer internship with SWF in our Colorado Office. SWF thanks him for his contributions and wishes him continued success. During his internship, Mr. Wells researched connections between Corporate Social Responsibility principles and developments in the commercial space sector; outcomes from this research are due to published in a paper, co-authored with SWF Project Manager Ian Christensen, at the 14th Reinventing Space Conference in October 2016.