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 2 | Policy Challenges in Outer Space

The lack of international governance in outer space presents the ultimate “tragedy of the commons.” We will discuss how space policy has failed to keep up with the "New Space" era, including on specific issues like space debris, circumnavigation of the moon, and ownership of space resources. More generally, the rise of private space actors presents a fundamental challenge for a space policy architecture built for state actors.