This workshop explores ways to operationalize the findings of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Leveraging Commercial Space for Earth and Remote Sensing, a study undertaken by the Committee for the Assessment of Partnership Options for a Small Satellite System for Collecting Scientific Quality Oceanic and Coastal Data, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.
The report describes how commercial advances in satellite system development, launch capability, measurement and information technology, and the New Space economy has led to a paradigm shift in the space industry that U.S. government agencies should leverage to support a wide range of science missions. According to the report the emergence of small satellites weighing less than 600 kilograms — known as SmallSats — has helped bring about a “New Space ecosystem,” within the last decade. This ecosystem is marked by lower barriers of entry and agile commercial organizations with higher risk tolerance and a focus on increased, rapid, and affordable access to space. The report acknowledges that academic, government, and commercial organizations have already demonstrated the capabilities of SmallSats for technology maturation, remote Earth and ocean sensing, and other science missions. Constellations and clusters of SmallSats could provide opportunities for science advancements in coastal and ocean science, gravity research, climate science, and studies of the sun-Earth connection, among other possibilities.
In this vein the report emphasizes that the U.S. government should encourage greater development of less traditional relationships like public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a means for adopting the commercial space industry’s technology and volume manufacturing capabilities, and to promote a new national space ecosystem supportive of industry, government, and academic objectives. PPPs and other innovative procurement approaches can enhance national missions focused on communications, remote sensing, dual-use, as well as mission areas focused on scientific data collection in oceanography and monitoring natural and human-made disasters, which have rarely used PPPs.
Taking the report’s specific findings (found in the summary chapter and chapter 6) to the next level, this workshop will bring together multiple stakeholders to:
(1) Explore ways to leverage commercial space by conveying the opportunities to address National challenges for scientific and dual-use application interests. It will also examine the nature and capabilities of the rapidly expanding New Space ecosystem, as well as mechanisms to utilize public-private partnerships to enable such missions within the emergent New Space ecosystem.
(2) Look at the economics of space, the role of venture capital, and the capability of new business models to play a role in accelerating mission development through commercialization.
(3) Consider the benefits of the Hybrid Space Architecture (HSA) as an approach to establish a system-level capability for mission operations.
This workshop was developed by a workshop planning committee composed of members of the Committee for the Assessment of Partnership Options for a Small Satellite System for Collecting Scientific Quality Oceanic and Coastal Data.