The State Department is starstruck.
At last week’s second annual US Space Forum, the US Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna launched Project Constellation, a $5M effort to build international space partnerships.
During the next two years, the program will run talent exchanges, delegation visits, and training with the aim of connecting emerging space nations with US companies. Per the State Department, it’s also meant to drive closer alignment of foreign governments’ civil and commercial space positions at the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and General Assembly.
“Today’s aspiring, emerging, and developing space nations will be tomorrow’s satellite constellation operators,” Wells Griffith, the ambassador of the US Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, said in remarks announcing the program.
Starring: The State Department tapped three US organizations to run the program:
- Meridian International Center—the prime recipient—will oversee strategy, delivery, partner coordination, and finances, and organize exchanges through its diplomatic and industry networks.
- The Commercial Space Federation will lead the commercial side, promoting procurement and building business partnerships with US companies.
- SPACEAIMS—a public policy consulting firm—will guide the law, policy, governance, and diplomacy work, including country assessments, policy dialogues, and training.
Kelli Kedis Ogborn, strategic advisor at CSF, told Payload via email that US companies are “already delivering capabilities and building cross-border relationships that turn cooperation into practice.”
First light: The program’s first task? Make sure people know it exists. Early-awareness efforts will target US foreign service officers and the US embassy community.
Also on the docket are the 2027 and 2028 US Space Forums, plus trips in which international leaders visit the US and American commercial space leaders go to emerging space nations. The net is wide—more than 70 countries across the globe—though country-specific plans will be developed with partners. Griffith also teased a partnership-pitch competition, innovation showcases, and investor engagement.
Binary system: Project Constellation is State’s second space-diplomacy push in as many months. In September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled the Space Catalyst Partnership (SCP) to deepen cooperation with Artemis Accords signatories, starting with $6.5M awarded over two years aiming for satellite internet in rural southern Peru.
The two efforts orbit different centers of gravity. SCP is members-only—Accords signatories can join, and foreign aid helps them buy American. Constellation plays to the whole room in Vienna, pitching US policy as a helpful template for other nations.
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