Category: News

Current and former Space Policy Institute faculty, students, alumni, and visiting scholars were at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany last week. Here are just a few photos of some of the group!

Dr. Hertzfeld was interviewed by NPR concerning the potential for space mining in the future.

Dr. Hertzfeld was on The Space Show on August 10th, discussing the issue of space as a global commons.

The Space Policy Institute and Universities Space Research Association co-hosted their annual conference on Wednesday, March 28th, 2018.

Program brief:
Sending American astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972, eventually to Mars and other deep space destinations called for under President Trump’s Space Policy Directive will require new technologies, funding and collaboration among universities, businesses and governments, both domestic and international. Innovative aerospace entrepreneurs and experts will be joined by top U.S. and European policymakers to explore:

• Use of the moon as a staging platform for testing new systems and mining its valuable resources
• Strategies for aligning U.S. commercial, civil and defense space initiatives with those of other nations under the Outer Space Treaty

Speakers:
Henry Hertzfeld, Director – Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
Robert Lightfoot, Acting Administrator – NASA
Jan Woerner, Director General – European Space Agency (ESA) (video message)
Hon. Harrison H. Schmitt – Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. Senator
Ellen Stofan, NASA Chief Scientist (former) – NASA Headquarters
James Carpenter, Strategy Officer, Strategic Planning and Outreach Office – European Space Agency (ESA) Space Research and Technology Center
Clive Neal, Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences – University of Notre Dame
Carle Pieters, Professor, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences – Brown University
Philippe Lognonné, Professor, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris – Université Paris Diderot-Sorbonne Paris Cité
Harrison H. Schmitt, Author, Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space
Jason Crusan, Director, Advanced Exploration Systems – NASA Headquarters
Christie Iacomini, Head, Advanced Systems – Blue Origin
Angel Abbud-Madrid, Director, Center for Space Resources – Colorado School of Mines
Dan Hendrickson, Vice President of Business Development – Astrobotic Technology, Inc.
Jeff Isaacson, President and CEO – Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
Steven Ackerman, Chair, Council of Institutions – Universities Space Research Association (USRA)

“The Elliott School’s Scott Pace now leads President Trump’s revived National Space Council, which has its eye on the moon.”

Click here to read the full article.

Two of our students have been appointed to positions with the Space Generation Advisory Council. Chris Beauregard will manage the SGx Conference in March, and Cody Knipfer is the new Strategic Communications Lead.

Our Director, Henry Hertzfeld, was recently featured in the DC Bar magazine Washington Lawyer for an article examining the 50th Anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty.

Click here to read the full article.

Jack D. Fischer (Colonel, U.S. Air Force) was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in July 2009, and completed his training in 2011. The Colorado native served as a Flight Engineer aboard the International Space Station of the Expedition 51/52. He returned to Earth Sept. 2 from his first mission where he logged 136 days in space and conducted two spacewalks. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Astronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy, and a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Colonel Fischer is an Air Force Command pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 45 types of aircraft.

At this unique event, Colonel Fischer discussed what life was like living and working aboard the International Space Station including the research investigations he conducted in microgravity, the importance of international collaboration in space, and how space policy has evolved in his tenure as a NASA astronaut. Colonel Fischer also participated in a Q&A moderated by Space Policy Institute research professor, Dr. Henry R. Herztfeld.

The National Space Council held its first meeting last Thursday at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in front of Space Shuttle Discovery. The Space Policy Institute sent a delegation of students to watch members of the President’s Cabinet discuss the future of U.S. Space exploration with leaders from the private industry, government, as well as scientists.