Seeing Into Space: Perspectives and Initiatives for Enhancing Space Situational Awareness

Space situational awareness (SSA) - commonly defined as knowledge about the space environment and activities in space - is an important part of space sustainability, safety, and security. SSA has historically been mostly a military mission that focused on tracking the locations of objects in space and detecting space-based threats. However, the nature of SSA is evolving as the number of actors in space increases, including an increasing proportion of non-governmental players and space activities, and the nature of the threats to active satellites diversifies and expands to include natural and human-generated threats, as well as intentional and unintentional threats. 

On Dec. 9, 2014, Secure World Foundation (SWF) held a luncheon panel discussion (11:30 AM to 2:00 PM) to discuss the changing nature of SSA and examine initiatives being developed by both the U.S. government and non-governmental entities to enhance SSA. 

Agenda

Luncheon (11:30 AM - 11:45 AM)

Panel 1 (11:45 AM - 12:45 PM) Established Services, Providers, and Policies

• Mr. Richard Buennneke, Senior Advisor for National Security Space Policy in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, U.S. Department of State
• Mr. John Hill, Principal Director, Space Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for  Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
• Mr. Andrew D'Uva,  President, Providence Access Company
  

Coffee Break (12:45 PM - 1:00 PM)

Panel 2 (1:00 PM - 2:00 PM) Emerging Services, Providers, and Policies

• Dr. Michael Romanowski, Director, Commercial Space Integration, Federal Aviation Administration
• Mr. Paul Welsh, Vice President of Business Development, Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI)
• Mr. Matthew Bold, Chief Architect, Ground Based Space Situational Awareness (GBSSA), Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center

The discussion was be moderated  by Mr. Brian Weeden, SWF Technical Advisor.

Event Materials

Speaker bios

Presentation by Mr. Paul Welsh on AGI's Commercial Space Operation Center (ComSpOC)

Audio recording of the event (2hr mp3 file)