BE Webinar: Paving "Rules for the Road" toward Space Migration
Thu Feb 16, 2023 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM EST
Online, Zoom
Description
The upcoming chapter of the 21st Century "Space Age" will be transformative for the future of the United States - and humanity. With it, a new of thinking about developing, as well as living in, space is emerging. The commercialization and democratization of space is leading focus away from exclusively government-led “aspirational” programs in favor of “practical, tangible, equitable” projects driven and fueled by the private sector. Recognizing this shift, the Beyond Earth Institute believes that the U.S. Government should frame its audacious goal of returning to the Moon and establishing a permanent human presence not as the narrow technocratic goals of a federal bureaucracy - but as part of America’s historic commitment to pioneering and settling new frontiers.
To that end, the Beyond Earth Institute has produced a report, “Emerging Space Industrial Ecosystem Leading to Eventual Beyond Earth Migration,” that recommends a shift in the fundamental role of government in space. Rather than being the "leader" of the private sector, dictating development, operation, and ownership of space activities, the government should be the "lead stimulator" of such activities. It should "set the rules of the road," rather than "owning it" - by promoting and encouraging off-planet expansion, providing security, and, most importantly, being a customer, not a competitor, for off-planet goods and services.
Join the Beyond Earth Institute's Courtney Stadd and Robert Brumley, both prominent long-term advocates of effective commercial space policy and the co-authors of the report, for a conversation with other thought leaders on the report's observations, findings, and recommendations - and a discussion on the implications of the emerging space industrial base on humanity's eventual migration Beyond Earth. Brumley will share his latest thinking on how we can begin the process of converting policy to programs.