What Is Space Policy?

Space to Grow is back with another episode on the new space economy and sustainability. Hosts Chris Blackery and Charity Weeden of Astroscale invited space policy expert Regina Peldszus to discuss the topic. Peldszus is an accomplished space expert that spent several years in research and now focuses on policy. She’s the Senior Policy Officer at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Peldszus first answered the question, what is space policy? “It’s the constant dialogue and engagement of actors to negotiate and consider different interests. Space policy involves a shared understanding of assumptions and goals for space.” The group also discussed who impacts policy, and the answer is there are many different contributors. That’s both positive and challenging because space isn’t governed by one entity. “Finding the right division of labor in this giant ecosystem means bringing different actors to the table, and they each bring different things to it,” Peldszus added. Peldszus has concerns about space situational awareness, which is tracking objects in orbit and predicting where they will be. Sustaining the orbital environment for safety and longevity matters. “Anything that creates debris translates to risk. We also don’t have the complete picture of space, which impacts verification and attribution. With different data sources, who has the true picture?” As for the future of SSA and space policy, Peldszus believes there will be progress toward engagement, transparency, and data sharing.

You can listen to What Is Space Policy? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What Is Space Policy? is an episode from Space to Grow by Chris Blackerby.

This episode is 39:14 long.

This episode was published on Mar 31, 2021.

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