SWF Participates in 2023 Small Satellite Conference, Highlighting Space Governance Issues for the Smallsat Operational Environment

SWF Director of Private Sector Programs spoke at the 2023 Small Satellite Conference in Logan Utah.  His presentation entitled "Sustainable Coexistence In Space: How CubeSats and Small Satellites Fit in our Current Space Governance Framework" was co-authored with Dan Oltrogge, CSSI Director and Chief Scientist at COMSPOC Corporation.  It gave an overview of the elements of the space governance systems, including standards, voluntary guidelines, regulations, and international treaties, and discussed the relationship of those elements to the small satellite and cube satellite operations community.

Mr. Christensen also moderated a side event discussion, open to all attendees at the conference, on the topic of "Space Debris and ASAT Testing: Protecting the Operational Environment for SmallSats."  Speakers at this event included: Brent Abbott, Chief Revenue Officer, Rogue Space Systems; Rachit Bhatia, Space Safety Analytics & Research Lead, LeoLabs; David Goldstein, Principal Guidance Navigation and Control Engineer, SpaceX; Vishnuu Mallik, Orbits R&D Engineer, Planet; and Dan Oltrogge, CSSI Director and Chief Scientist, COMSPOC Corporation.  

This side event discussed the impacts of anti-satellite (ASAT) testing on the operational environment for small satellites operators as well the actions the operator community can take to build increased resilience and capability to respond to debris-creating events.  The event also covered efforts to build momentum behind national direct ascent ASAT test moratoriums.  Panelists discussed the importance of sharing data on ASAT events and the importance of satellite owner/operators publishing satellite ephemeris as elements of increasing community to catalog, characterize, and respond to debris creating events.