Opinion
Opinion section includes op-eds, columns, commentaries and editorials on all things related to the global space business enterprise.
Op-ed | Is AI key to the survival of satcoms?
As the world becomes more connected, many don’t see a need for satellite, yet we must remind ourselves that the global communications network cannot survive without satellite communication. How can satellite services survive? Could artificial intelligence (AI) be the answer?
A More Secure Space Weapons System Starts with Cyber
As modern weapons systems become more automated and connected, they become more vulnerable to cyber threats: attacks on IP addresses, radio frequency (RF) manipulation, supply chain risk, human error (e.g., downloading a malicious attachment), and…
Analysis | Are smallsats entering the maturity stage?
The smallsat market, still rife with uncertainty, is at the beginning of an explosive growth cycle as large scale, expensive constellations face their initial launch.
Op-ed | India-China space collaboration is worth a try
For the last two decades, India and China have been engaged in an undeclared space race marked more by regional rivalry than neighborly competition. But that doesn't mean the two nations shouldn't give space cooperation a shot.
Op-ed | Two more rules for building a megaconstellation
While the concept of constellation is not new, the challenges connected to operating hundreds of spacecraft at the same time are yet to be fully understood.
Op-ed | Small satellites are big business
With its unique alpha-to-omega regulatory sway over the satellite industry, the FCC plays an outsized role in shaping the nascent commercial space industry.
ULA and its launch industry competitors in pitched fight over regulations
ULA, and its parent companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin, stand virtually alone in their support of the FAA’s rules revision. Commercial launch players, meanwhile, continue to challenge the agency to make further changes.
Foust Forward | How much does the public care about returning to the moon?
As in Apollo, that public support may not be critical to winning sustained funding for Artemis, although the political and geopolitical conditions today are very different from those in the 1960s.
Op-ed | Why Congress must enact commercial remote sensing reforms
Remote sensing is incredibly valuable for environmental, national security and commercial purposes. Unfortunately, it’s governed by an outdated law that’s in desperate need of updating.
Op-ed | What it took to land on the moon
George Abbey, the long-time director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, reflects on America’s race to the moon and understand what it took to place the U.S. flag on the Sea of Tranquility.
Op-ed | Reflections on the U.S. space program a half-century after Apollo 11
Indeed, we were witnessing “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Nevertheless, my maternal grandmother who lived with us and was born in Eastern Europe in 1890, exclaimed, “I don’t believe it and will never believe it.”
The Apollo 11 anniversary and why it is so important
Fifty years after Apollo 11, we are in a far better position, and so much closer, to return to the moon and send humans to Mars than we ever have been in the past. There are still many technical challenges to overcome, but the biggest challenge remains the political will to do so.
Op-ed | The Apollo program and the Chinese treasure fleets
During the decades since the cancellation of the Apollo program, some have used the Chinese treasure fleets of the early 1400s as a cautionary tale.
Op-ed | Apollo is a lesson in leadership that continues to inspire and educate
The story of the Apollo program, the many heroes in the headlines and those behind-the-scenes, the unprecedented crisis and tragedies that were overcome to fulfill a martyred President’s bold promise, is a story as compelling as any great novel or Greek myth.
Op-ed | Making the moon and Mars possible
History is now repeating itself. President Trump has declared he wants to send astronauts to the moon by 2024 and then Mars by 2033. But, in other words, NASA is saying to Trump the same thing it said to Bush: “You can’t do your program until you do my program.”
Op-ed | Why we’re not on the moon now (and how we can stay next time we go)
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first humans to walk on the moon, you might notice we aren’t celebrating it on the moon. Why?
