The Next Space Race, Towards or Away From Innovation?

The lights dimmed over the audience in the Dennos Museum Center’s Milliken Auditorium on March 19 as community members and NMC students alike awaited the International Affairs Forum’s introduction to the “New Space Race” to begin.

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The program hosted by the IAF’s student leadership team aimed to invite the audience to examine the complexities of space travel with the introduction of new technologies. 

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Starting off the program, the guest speaker, Aimee Hubble, talked about propulsion. Similarly to a handgun generating kick back after it has been fired, rockets propel themselves using hot gas which is quickly expelled towards the ground, generating thrust to propel it into space. Continuing to invent new ways to generate thrust, and get rockets and satellites into and out of space is a very hot topic for the field right now scientists want to do more testing on chemicals and toxins in space, there is more pressure for the transportation to be reliable. 

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Hubble believes that, while there is a large amount of old technology that is still crucial for propulsion, the integration of new companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin is the way forward in order to continue making progress. 

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Another field which Hubble has been working very closely with is In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM). “Imagine that you bought a car, and you drove it until it ran out of gas and then you just left it on the side of the road. That’s pretty much how we operate satellites these days,” said Hubble. 

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The goal of ISAM is to have a way to get into space and do minor repairs on satellites, or refuel them so that they do not go to waste, and reduce the amount that are abandoned. If a company were able to effectively integrate ISAM, it would also lend itself to other fields like pharmaceuticals which could benefit from research and development done with less gravity. 

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ISAM would also allow companies to more responsibly follow new regulations set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Recently, the FCC changed their policy from requiring satellites to deorbit 25 years after their mission was complete to only five years. 

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Hubble is hopeful that ISAM is the way forward with this new policy. She suggested that having a spacecraft in Low Earth orbit with ISAM capabilities would allow a much smoother way for companies to alter their satellites so that they are safely taken down. 

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The IAF student leadership team also showed an interview they conducted with Donald Moore, a lecturer at the International Transactions Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, and founder and CEO of Space Finance Company and GeoJump, Inc. 

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If the US wants to launch a rocket, it is more complicated than just rocket physics. In order to use airspace, the group in charge of the mission must acquire a licence from the FCC, said Moore. In addition to the FCC licensing, treaties with other countries must be considered because of the use of shared airspace, and the planning of the return site, which is typically in an ocean. The only way that any of these space missions works is through collaboration.

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There is a lot of grey area within these treaties that limits the amount of collaboration that can happen. The Outer Space Treaty states that no nation can declare sovereignty over a celestial body. However, if a nation is to take part of that celestial body back to Earth (like moon rocks), it is their property, and they own that part of the celestial body. 

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As of now, Moore does not see any more treaties to garner collaboration in the near future. “There is really no chance of any new treaties. The world is not in a mood right now for the US, Russia, and China to agree to [a] new treaty about space debris or space traffic management… Frankly, it’s kind of a new Cold War that has developed in space,” said Moore.

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Regardless of collaboration, companies ultimately form to seek profit, says Lina M. Cashin, a Senior Project Engineer of Defense Systems Operations at the Aerospace Corporation. She highlights the importance of remembering that while a company can both seek a profit and want improvements for a community or industry, this can lead to companies overlooking ethics in order to increase profit. 

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Cashin gives the example of the maritime industry. There have been many instances where cruise or freight ships may seek government approval in a specific nation because they have more lax rules and regulations, which will likely cause more complications further down the line. 

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Regardless of the cautionary tales told by Cashin and Moore, Hubble maintained enthusiastic vibrancy throughout the forum. “Life can take you interesting places if you’re open to it,” said Hubble. To her, that means teamwork.