Fourth Annual Roundtable on Value and Benefit Creation in Commercial Space Held in London, UK

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

On Tuesday November 5, 2019, Secure World Foundation (SWF), the Heinlein Prize Trust, and the International Institute of Space Commerce held a small, invite-only Roundtable on Value and Benefit Creation in Commercial Space at the Royal Astronomical Society in London, UK. The event was structured as an interactive discussion of the aspects that will indicate and enable sustainable commercial lunar activities. Identify issues and questions that need to be communicated between the commercial space industry and the policy and non-space business communities. The event was a follow-up to similar events held in New York City and Washington DC in 2016, 2017, and 2018. 

The Roundtable brought together a cross section of space industry representatives, including both service and hardware providers from both lunar and terrestrial focused space businesses. It also included scientists, economists, and legal scholars. During the day three “Discussions” were held, each focusing on a thematic topic. Each Discussion began with short presentations from invited speakers; followed by a moderated dialogue between all attendees and participants.

Themes discussed during the Roundtable included: drivers of lunar commercialization interests; lessons learned from partnership strategies in support of more traditional commercial space applications, concepts and understanding of sustainability in lunar commercialization, and the possible benefits of lunar commercialization.  A summary report will be published by SWF in the near future. For more information, please contact SWF Director of Private Sector Programs Mr. Ian Christensen.