Polaris
Stories from Payload’s weekly space policy newsletter, Polaris.
Alabama, Colorado Brawl Over Space Command’s Home
The fight over where US Space Command will put down roots has become a central part of the debate on this year’s NDAA, and the longer the industry awaits a final decision, the more charged the spat becomes. How we got here: A quick recap if you’ve somehow avoided this years-long saga. In January 2021,…
The More That You Learn, The More Places You’ll Go
Virgin Galactic sent three Italian researchers to the edge of space last month, and is expecting to launch its first tourists as soon as Aug. 10. Three people—including businessman and race car driver John Shoffner—hitched a ride on a SpaceX Crew Dragon for an eight-day stay on the ISS in May. And Blue Origin, which…
Chamber of Commerce Teaches How Space Affects All
It’s a common refrain at space events of all shapes and sizes: satellites enabled the GPS that helped your Uber find its way here. But what’s accepted among space insiders is not such common knowledge in the broader public, and the Chamber of Commerce is ramping up its space efforts to spread the word so…
State Sees a ‘Significant Uptick’ in Global Space Collaboration
The Biden administration’s “very intentional” effort to make space part of its international engagement has boosted the number of partners interested in collaborating with the US in orbit, the State Department’s Valda Vikmanis-Keller told Payload. Last week, Ecuador and India became the 26th and 27th nations to join the Artemis Accords. Just a few months…
NDAA Preview: Spaceport of the Future
One lawmaker is looking to make military launch facilities run more like commercial airports with a pair of amendments set to be introduced tomorrow when the House Armed Services Committee debates its version of the NDAA. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) is expected to introduce two amendments on the Spaceport of the Future: one to allow…
World Economic Forum Releases New Space Debris Guidelines
The World Economic Forum and ESA joined forces to draft a new set of orbital debris mitigation recommendations, which were released Tuesday. The four-page guideline already has support from more than two dozen industry players, including Airbus, Planet, Astroscale, and SES. “Space is critical for our modern way of life,” the document says. “We therefore…
COPUOS Update on Sustainable Use of Space
The United Nations gave an update on a new group studying guidelines for the sustainable use of space in a conference room paper released June 2 at the 66th session of the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), which will conclude Friday in Vienna. What it is: The COPUOS Scientific and…
Training the Next Generation of Space Diplomats
The State Department released its first Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy today, proving that diplomacy in orbit has become a reality much sooner than Futurama would have had us believe. The framework: The document highlights how the State Department will advance US leadership in orbit on priorities like establishing norms of behavior, as well as…
Artemis 2 Crew Finds Inspiration in DC’s Chaos
The Artemis 2 crew found inspiration in their visit to DC last week, despite the backdrop of partisan debt limit debates and Republican-backed efforts to slash nearly a quarter of NASA’s budget. When I asked Victor Glover how the crew’s meetings with lawmakers had gone amid these financial concerns, he was overwhelmingly optimistic about the…
Space Norms, STEM, Alliances Top National Space Council 2023 To-Do List
Setting norms of behavior in space and building a future space workforce are at the top of the National Space Council’s list of priorities for the remainder of this year, the group’s executive secretary, Chirag Parikh, told Payload. His other to-dos as he nears the end of his second year with the panel include buoying…
Rep. Frank Lucas on NASA Authorization Push: ‘The Sooner, the Better’
The last time Congress passed a standalone NASA authorization bill, in 2017, astronauts were flying to the ISS exclusively aboard Russian rockets, Perseverance was still a work in progress inside a JPL clean room, and Artemis was just a name from Greek mythology. It’s clear a lot has changed since then, and Rep. Frank Lucas…
