2002 — Government and Industry Issues for Expanding Commercial Markets into Space
October 10, 2002
Author: David Smitherman, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
Abstract: In 2002, the Foresight and Governance Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C, organized a “Global Foresight Workshop”’ in partnership with NASA and in cooperation with other Federal Agencies to provide integrated consideration of broad challenges for the 21st century. Many long-range goals for the nation were discussed and selected, among them were space related goals of interest to NASA. During much of the Agency’s history, NASA advanced studies have focused consistently on the challenges of science-driven space exploration and operations. However, workshop findings indicate little interest in these goals unless they can also solve national and global issues. Many technologies and space development studies indicate great potential to enable new, important commercial markets in space that could address the many global challenges facing America in this century. But communication of these ideas are lacking. In conclusion, it appears that the commercial development of space could have broad implications on many impending problems, including energy resources, environmental impact, and climate changes. The challenge will be to develop a consistent coordinated effort among the many industries and Agencies that should be involved in opening this new frontier for these new commercial markets.
Full paper availability at:
NASA Technical Report Server: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20030062114
International Astronautical Congress: This paper may also be available at https://www.iafastro.org/publications/iaf-technical-papers/