Space Policy Seminar: Challenges & Opportunities in Governing Outer Space

This seminar offers students a comprehensive introduction to space policy, exploring its history, contemporary challenges, technological implications, and future.

In addition, students will get the unique opportunity to contribute to new research by Belfer Fellows Ariel Ekblaw, Ely Sandler, and John “JD” DeMello on the governance of outer space, which they are developing in discussions with NASA, US Space Force, ESA, and other international space agencies.

At the end of the semester, participants will be invited to MIT’s flagship space event, Beyond the Cradle, presenting ideas developed in the semester to the space policy and technology community. Participants may be invited to discussions with senior policymakers in Washington, D.C. and Colorado Springs, CO.

Session 1 | Introduction to Space Governance & Policy

The seminar series will begin by examining current space governance, including debates surrounding space policy reform and where policy lags behind technological innovation. We will explore the foundations of space governance and policy, including the foundational texts that govern the use and exploration of outer space such as the Outer Space Treaty and more recent initiatives like the Artemis Accords. We will see that international space policy is “stuck” in the 1970s, with no new binding international accords since the Cold War. We will discuss why this is, what problems it causes, the urgency to establish norms of behavior and new guardrails around burgeoning space activity, and how policy entrepreneurship is needed to make progress.