Opinion
Opinion section includes op-eds, columns, commentaries and editorials on all things related to the global space business enterprise.
Foust Forward | As the launch industry grows, it finds it needs to share
The commercial spaceflight industry has been enjoying success both on and off the launch pad this year.
U.S. Government Stands to benefit from Next-Generation MEO fleet beginning 2021
At the annual SMI MilSatCom Conference in 2017, Army Major General Pete Gallagher, former CENTCOM/J6, shared a vignette about U.S. forces fighting ISIS in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility.
Op-ed | SmallSat Alliance is on a path toward a new space horizon
The early returns of this economic revolution are already on our doorstep: space data capabilities are exponentially growing elements of the 21st century world economy.
Op-ed | Satellite Data and Cheeseburgers
The U.S. government is evaluating how it can engage with a series of new commercial remote-sensing companies, but one of the biggest challenges in these partnerships is determining how widely the data can be shared after it is purchased from the government.
On National Security | Bring sanity to the Space Force debate? That would be boring
Since Trump ordered the Pentagon to create a Space Force, the topic has captured the public’s imagination while Washington policy wonks and defense insiders struggle to explain exactly what a space force is or what it will do.
Op-ed | The ball is in the Senate’s court regarding Article VI
No issue in space law over the past two years has generated more domestic controversy than Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty and, specifically, its effect on private space activities.
Why Ku-band HTS is Superior for AISR
The commercial space industry is experiencing a new era in satellite performance. Over the past few years, multiple commercial satellite operators have deployed and activated next-generation high-throughput satellite (HTS) constellations.
Op-ed | Geospatial Intelligence: The totally made-up term that’s changing the world
USGIF proposes that geospatial intelligence is ready to take its place alongside business intelligence, artificial intelligence and competitive intelligence in the business world.
Op-ed | Networking the space-terrestrial frontier
The planned deployment of thousands of LEO satellites by OneWeb and SpaceX’s Starlink are proof that the crusade for high throughput, low latency and wide coverage has only started.
How a small Scottish town aims to transform commercial spaceflight
With the announcement that Scotland will be home to Britain's first spaceport, the U.K. is on the road to offering a one-stop-shop for building, operating and now launching satellites.
Op-ed | We’ll need more than Trump’s Space Policy Directive to fix commercial remote-sensing regulations
At the rate the commercial sector is innovating, regulatory practices will need to be agile, evolving quickly while still providing needed order and protections.
Op-ed | Regulatory reform is not a one-off event
The American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act takes a number of important steps to provide regulatory certainty for emerging commercial space applications; and to implement the United States’ international obligation to provide authorization and supervision for its private sector actors.
Foust Forward | How much advice is too much for the White House regarding space?
If the president and others in the White House need more input on the real state of NASA and other national space activities, they now have another source: the National Space Council's Users’ Advisory Group.
Op-ed | Time to clear the air about launch pollution
Combustion emissions from launch vehicles present the space industry with a concern comparable to orbital debris that we can begin to address now, before it grows and becomes a potential impediment to space access.
On National Security | Space Force: What’s all the fuss about?
Until Trump put it under a massive spotlight, the Space Force (or Space Corps) only existed as an academic and policy debate in Washington blue-ribbon commissions and occasional congressional hearings.
Why the United States needs a Space Force
Military professionals who concentrate on space needed their own organization to truly focus their efforts on a singular task — to protect and defend U.S. and allied interests in space.
