Spaced Out at the Swedish Embassy

Photo of Esrange spaceport launch, copyright SSC

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How’s that for an eye-catching title? In this case it is actually how I spent a pleasant Wednesday afternoon in late November in Washington DC. I was honored to be included in the Space Executive Roundtable hosted at the beautiful House of Sweden on the Georgetown Waterfront. The event was put on to celebrate US-Swedish cooperation in space and to showcase Sweden’s newly constructed orbital spaceport at Esrange. It was great to spend an afternoon in the company of old friends and new contacts while talking space. Who could ask for more? The discussions covered a range of topics and focused primarily on international space cooperation in a shock to no one given the venue. I’m going to capture my top 3 impressions from the event to share more broadly and leaving Chatham House rules in place.

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1. AI and Space

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This one sounds great, right? AI and space. Many screenplay writers have already capitalized on how cool it sounds. But today, we are in a moment where AI and space are naturally converging, and many are asking how. This question was asked directly, and the answer was underwhelming. The response was that AI can process data from Earth observation assets on orbit, which is absolutely the case. The example given was about weather patterns and malaria. Processing the data from increasingly powerful space assets to find patterns and indicators is absolutely an application of AI for the space domain. But it looks an awful lot like an application of AI in the terrestrial domain. There was a noticeable lack of creative thought when it came to how AI would be applied in the space domain. There were no conversations about how AI can de-risk inherently risky space operations or help with novel space activities. It indicated that more thought leadership is needed in how to apply AI in the space domain in novel ways.

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2. White House

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The White House focused on the security side of space activities correctly pointing out that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed how people perceive risk in space. There were also remarks about the destructive direct ascent anti-satellite missile ban norm and UN resolution, which are also significant security accomplishments. The best discussion was on the “space full stack”, which consists of space, emerging technology, cyber, and telecommunications. That’s an excellent way to frame many of the issues in space.

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3. Artemis Accords

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While Sweden was quick to point out that it has a bilateral agreement with the US on space cooperation, the US was even quicker to point out that Sweden has yet to sign on to the Artemis Accords. The talking points among the US government folk were well coordinated to ensure that elbow was thrown at the right moments. The quest to add to the list of Artemis Accords signatories is alive and well.

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Overall, an excellent event with a packed room of space power players. The event gave good overviews of many issues but stopped short of getting to action. But the patches they gave away were pretty cool…

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