A Space Policy Primer: Key Concepts, Issues, And Actors

Introduction

New space policy questions are emerging, affecting both the traditional spacefaring nations and new entrants.

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At a time when plans are being made by the United States and others to return humans to the moon and eventually reach Mars while also exploring more distant worlds robotically, what should the overall goals of America’s civil space exploration program be, and what strategy is most conducive to achieving them? What role will international partners play in such endeavors? How best can civil and commercial space sectors work together in service of space science and exploration? And how best can the United States provide leadership in space traffic management (STM)?

The rapid transformation of the commercial space sector also drives a number of questions. Governments and their regulatory regimes struggle to keep up with the ever-increasing presence of private reusable rockets, large-scale constellations of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), in-space servicing, and potential asteroid mining. What domestic and international governance structures and internationally accepted guidelines, standards, and best practices need to be in place to prevent misunderstanding among nations and to protect the sustainability of the space environment? How can the interests of industry, free markets, and national security best be balanced when they are in opposition?

The United States national security space enterprise also faces numerous challenging questions. The increasing capability of rivals to threaten space assets and to exploit space for military advantage is being used to argue for more rapid development of more survivable space capabilities. Is the United States’ current military space acquisition system up to the task? How will the Space Force deter conflict in space and prepare for future wars in space if deterrence fails? And how should U.S. allies and partners share the burden of collective defense in space?

The U.S. military also plays a vital role in tracking space debris and monitoring traffic in space. As malevolent threats to U.S. national security space assets multiply, how will the military, the Department of Commerce, and commercial stakeholders contribute to space situational awareness (SSA) data-sharing and space traffic management (STM)? Will international actors buy into U.S. initiatives? Or will these issues be addressed internationally from a more bottom-up approach?

U.S. policymakers will need to address these questions while working with experts from across many fields, from many different government agencies and from many different countries and commercial enterprises. This primer provides some key concepts for categorizing and understanding space activities, provides an overview of international space law, and explains some common rationales that help justify the significant upfront investments required for space activities. It also provides a brief sketch of how the U.S. government is organized to address these difficult space policy questions. Ideally, this primer will provide the reader with the foundation upon which a comprehensive understanding of the complex issues surrounding U.S. national space policy may be built. More discussions about a variety of space policy topics can be found on the Center for Space Policy and Strategy homepage.*

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