Seattle is well-known as a space industrial hub. In 2024, launched into space were designed or built in the Greater Seattle area. Washington state manufactured more than half of the satellites currently orbiting earth, and more than 75% of the world鈥檚 satellites.

, a 天美影视传媒 professor of international studies, believes the city can expand its reach even further by also becoming a hub for space diplomacy. This mission led her to start the annual at the UW in 2023.

The SDS 鈥� co-sponsored by the Space Law, Data and Policy Program (SPACE LDP) in the UW School of Law and the Program on Strategy, Policy, and Diplomacy Research in the UW Jackson School of International Studies (SPDR) 鈥� aims to center diplomacy in civilian, commercial and military space activities.

鈥淚 want the world, not just our nation, to pay attention to what鈥檚 going on in Seattle鈥檚 industry,鈥� said Pekkanen, who is the founding director of SPACE LDP and SPDR. 鈥淪eattle is becoming the leading hub for satellites and , but we鈥檙e also trying to become the place for regulatory policy and building diplomatic collaborations. All of this serves the interests not just of educators, but also our community. Seattle can lead the way for what space diplomacy might look like.鈥�

There is no shortage of space technology in the world, Pekkanen said, but it鈥檚 dialogue and diplomacy that makes it grow.聽

鈥淚t’s important to have capabilities, but it’s also important to position those capabilities in a very fiercely competitive international system,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow can we advance those capabilities in a way that’s good for our community and that’s good for whoever may be interested in buying them?鈥�

This year鈥檚 SDS keynote speaker is the James H. Binger senior fellow in global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations. Brimmer will reflect on the role of diplomacy in international space relations while also raising awareness of essential space-related topics. Brimmer directed the Council of Foreign Relation鈥檚 report, 鈥�,鈥� on which Pekkanen served as a task force member.聽

Symposium panelists will include representatives from the Cabinet Office of Japan, the U.S. Space Force, the Space Law Council of Australia and New Zealand, and Harvard Medical School.

Pekkanen had three major motivations for establishing the SDS.

鈥淭he first one was, nobody else was doing it,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o now we are the only ones in the world. The UW has a standing platform.鈥�

Secondly, she said, the symposium gives UW and the Seattle area an opportunity to draw attention to the next generation of regulatory, policy and diplomatic challenges.聽

Finally, Pekkanen said, universities have a remarkable, but siloed, ecosystem. The SDS helps bridge the gap by gathering thought leaders from across academic departments.

鈥淲e have so many people at the UW with different competencies that are at the cutting edge of where space is going,鈥� Pekkanen said. 鈥淲e need to come together to begin building the sort of policy and diplomatic foundation for what matters.鈥�

The SDS started as a way to bring together experts and build community. But as the event grows, Pekkanen also views it as a way to bring special topics to the table.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fiction that space has nothing to do with war, or that it only has to do with prosperity,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is a dual-use technology that cuts across both. This year, for the first time, we have more specific themes.鈥�

, a UW assistant teaching professor of international studies and lead of the Jackson School鈥檚 Cybersecurity Initiative, will preside over a military space diplomacy panel that will focus on cybersecurity.聽

A key topic on the civil space diplomacy side will be megaconstellations 鈥斅� large groups of satellites that work together to provide a service. , a UW research assistant professor of astronomy and associate director of the UW Institute for Data-intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology (DiRAC) will host the panel.

The commercial diplomacy panel will be moderated by , an associate professor of bioethics and humanities in the UW School of Medicine. One key topic for these experts will be the medical and biological challenges of sustaining humanity in space.

鈥淚t鈥檚 space!鈥� Pekkanen said. 鈥淲ho is not interested? It鈥檚 a hopeful vision. It gives people hope that we can build something and sustain something good not just for our community, but also nationally and internationally.鈥�

For more information, contact Pekkanen at smp1@uw.edu.

Many of us started pandemic projects over the past two years, getting creative with activities like baking bread and learning to sew.

and created something, too.

The married couple, both professors in the UW Jackson School of International Studies, are co-editors of the first , published online in September 2020 and in print in January 2022. They worked with dozens of collaborators around the world to add the topic to the respected collection of Oxford Handbooks that presents surveys of original research.

鈥淭he handbooks are kind of like those conversations with one of your faculty members who knows the field really well,鈥� Robert said, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 in a written form available for anyone.鈥�

That鈥檚 why Saadia calls it 鈥渁n ideal project for the pandemic.鈥� It required experts to take their research and put it into an accessible format: the platform, which is available to many through the subscription of their academic institutions.

This volume鈥檚 46 essays span the breadth of Japanese politics, from describing the political system to examining the country鈥檚 status within the region and world. It gives its audience 鈥� students and scholars 鈥� an overview of the field, while also providing a baseline of knowledge for anybody interested in Japanese politics.

First approached by Oxford University Press about the project in 2017, the couple decided what topics to cover and chose leading experts to contribute essays and research. Robert took the lead on domestic politics and Saadia headed foreign relations.

As a unifying theme, they asked every author to evaluate Japanese democracy, especially relevant at a time when democratic systems around the world are being challenged. The authors concluded that Japanese democracy is robust and healthy. In one measure, a by the nonprofit Freedom House, the country rated 96 out of 100.

Unlike the United States, Japan has not been as impacted by forces like populism, polarization and challenges to electoral integrity, Robert said.

鈥淛apan鈥檚 democracy seems to be flourishing,鈥� he said, 鈥渆ven as America鈥檚 democracy seems to be increasingly under threat.鈥�

Saadia said a country鈥檚 internal democratic processes influence stances it takes in the region and on the world stage. Japan鈥檚 processes can help people understand its role in the Asia-Pacific region as China rises in power.

鈥淛apan is clearly on the side of the democracies,鈥� she said. 鈥淛apan is very purposeful, it鈥檚 very powerful and it鈥檚 not a junior partner to the United States. So how democracy helps Japan take that stand going forward is extremely important for understanding regional stability.鈥�

Robert and Saadia are proud of the contribution they鈥檝e made to the field 鈥� and how the Oxford Handbook Online platform 鈥渆qualizes access鈥� to their volume by making it more searchable, easier to assign in classrooms and more accessible to students on limited budgets.

They also enjoyed working with top scholars, who don鈥檛 get paid for their contributions but share their research as a service.

鈥淚t was terrific to learn from the best,鈥� Saadia said. 鈥淚 loved it. The handbook was really a joy to edit in that sense.鈥�

Another joy? Robert said it was working with his 鈥渇avorite collaborator ever.鈥� While many couples learned the limits of their relationships during the pandemic, Robert and Saadia discovered just how well they work together. 鈥淚 would write a book with Robert again,鈥� Saadia said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 good testimony to a wonderful collaborative relationship.鈥�

The daylong will be held online on Nov. 6 and will feature introductory remarks by UW President Ana Mari Cauce and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell as well as of the U.S. Space Command. The symposium’s many come from academia, government and the aerospace industry in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

The symposium’s theme will be Autonomous Operations in Space: Tech & Policy. In the concluding , UW law professor and physicist will talk with “The Martian” author and others in a panel on “Building our Future in Deep Space.”

The co-directors of SPARC are , UW professor and chair of aeronautics and astronautics, and , professor of international studies. UW Notebook connected with Pekkanen over email with a few questions about this year’s symposium.

First, as a general overview, what is the mission of SPARC and its annual symposium?聽聽

Saadia Pekkanen: SPARC’s mission is to bring together science, technology, and policy in a way that speaks across many disciplines. We seek to advance collaborative research as well as the education, training and networks of the next generation of space professionals.

Space entrepreneurship will be a key topic, as in years past. How is the Pacific Northwest faring as a growing hub for the space industry?聽聽

S.P.: One of the key trends we are now seeing is that more established and well-known companies are also in the space startup business, so to speak. Many of our large local players are now tailoring some part of their operations to get into the space business, particularly focused on the hardware and data from operational satellites.

Amazon, for example, says it will invest $10 billion in a satellite constellation. Known as Project Kuiper, it will launch over 3,200 satellites to provide broadband internet access worldwide. Microsoft has recently announced a partnership with SpaceX to go after the cloud computing business focused on commercial, government and military space customers.

UW law professor聽, director of the聽, will moderate a panel on protecting Earth from orbital debris and near-Earth objects. We hear of low-Earth orbit being cluttered and of “near-misses” in the news. What is the current danger level from space debris?聽聽

S.P.: I would say the levels for both accidental and deliberate threats are high. In both cases, the conditions enabling a runaway chain reaction of collision and more debris, called the Kessler syndrome, are concerning.聽There are about 2,700 known operational satellites in orbit, more than half of which belong to U.S. civilian, commercial and military stakeholders. If the number of small satellites surpasses the 100,000 mark as it is projected to the chances for accidental collisions increases.

Deliberate threats such as those posed by debris-creating anti-satellite (ASAT) tests carried out by many countries are even more concerning. All this comes at a time when聽the U.S has named both聽Russia and China as great power competitors, and these聽national rivalries have extended openly to outer space. We聽should be working on restoring diplomacy to聽strengthen聽norms and rules, which is the only way to deal with a problem at the nexus of technology and聽politics.

COVID remains a global challenge and menace. How has the coronavirus affected the space industry? Have projects or plans been delayed?聽

S.P.: I think we will probably be assessing the impact with real data sometime next year. Right now, I imagine that most companies, especially smaller ones or new startups, are scrambling to adjust and float. Once again, the impact of the entry of the established companies may have a positive impact on the stability of supply chains and smaller startups as the competition moves forward.

What goals do you have for the Space Policy and Research Center in the next few years?

S.P.: We want to position as a premier university-centered think tank, which is seen as a trusted resource by audiences in government, business, education, media, and the nonprofit sector worldwide.

We also want to build out a truly interdisciplinary space studies curriculum for our students, speaking to technology, law and regional policies. We believe that such activities will bring together STEM, social sciences and humanities in the common enterprise of preserving peaceful prospects in outer space.

A new space race is underway, characterized by a growing number of government and private players and three intersecting trends: democratization, commercialization and militarization. But what does that mean for international geopolitics and safe 鈥� perhaps even collaborative 鈥� exploration beyond Earth?

, 天美影视传媒 professor of international relations, is lead guest editor for a addressing such issues published online this month in the American Journal of International Law under the title “.”

The essays stemmed in part from a Pekkanen convened at the UW in December 2018 that gathered academics and industry professionals to discuss these and other “critical contemporary challenges to space law and policy.” Topics discussed that day included the regulation of private entities in space and mining beyond Earth, liability law for space industries and legal ramifications of “traffic management” in space.

Pekkanen is the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor with the Jackson School. Her own essay, “,” led the package, further defining her view of the three trends affecting this new race.

• Democratization means space activities are expanding to a growing number of states and nonstate actors and “the emergence of lesser-known states intent on capturing industrial benefits.” As more participate, disagreements are likely to intensify over whether space is a “global commons.”
• Commercialization brings challenges to designing governance of space because of “entrepreneurs intent on profiting from space businesses all the way to off-world settlements.” Companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin have long been involved with space technology; the difference now, Pekkanen wrote, is such private entities are moving forward with their own initiatives 鈥� spacecraft and satellites, reusable rockets, robotics, off-world settlements and more.
• Militarization, Pekkanen wrote, requires “a far more nuanced lens on the balance between governments and businesses.” The main challenge arises from the fact that 95 percent of space technologies developed have “dual uses in the commercial and military realms.” The growing danger of space debris also can create security risks 鈥� a topic Pekkanen has and spoken about on several occasions.

“With interest in dedicated space units rising, the narrative today has shifted from mere space situational awareness to battlespace awareness,” Pekkanen added.

“As a result, countries face an increased danger of aggression or even open conflict in outer space. These realities raise important legal and policy concerns about militarization versus weaponization of space technologies.”

As these trends are taking place in an era of treaty “decline and exit,” Pekkanen said, it remains a “supreme challenge” to design appropriate global space governance.

Jackson School doctoral candidate Seonhee Kim was project coordinator for the UW gathering. Opening remarks were given by Mario Barnes, dean of the UW School of Law. Several faculty from law and Earth and space sciences attended.

The symposium and related work are part of the project, funded by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.

Other authors were Tanja Masson-Zwaan of Leiden University; of Keio University; Paul Larsen, former adjunct professor with the Georgetown University Law Center; Brian Israel, former general counsel for Planetary Resources, now at ConsenSys; P. J. Blount, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg; of Emory University School of Law; and Matt King of the Headquarters Air Force Operations and International Law Directorate, U.S. Air Force.

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For more information, contact Pekkanen at 206-543-6148 or smp1@uw.edu.

What are the policies of global rising powers regarding the use of orbital and outer space, and what are the implications of those policies for international cooperation?

Doctoral students at the briefed a gathering of space industry, media and government representatives on such topics in a capstone event at the 天美影视传媒 held June 8.

The students are fellows of the Jackson School’s , led by , professor and associate director of the Jackson School, who convened the space industry stakeholders to hear short reports on their work. Fellows reported on the space-related activities of China, India, Russia, South Korea, Israel and the European Union.

The student presentation were as follows:

Seonhee Kim reported on structural reforms and hoped-for modernizations in the Russian space industry and its new state space corporation, , organized in 2015.
Deep Pal spoke about a comprehensive space policy that India is drafting with input from commercial entities.
Clint Work discussed the rapid, state-led development of South Korea’s space program over the past 25 years.
Indra Ekmanis briefed the group on how European space policymakers have concentrated on data collection and how the European Space Agency’s space policy decisions are motivated in large part by socio-ecological concerns.
Oded Oron reported on Israel, saying that country views space as an avenue for financial growth and sees investment in its civil space industry as part of its national branding as a “start-up” nation.
Muyang Chen, who assisted in organizing the event, spoke about China’s burgeoning state-owned space industry and how reforms will partially privatize such activities and transform military-use technologies to civilian use. She said these changes may provide opportunities for private entities to enter the Chinese aerospace market, though the Chinese government will maintain strong control over the industry.

Pekkanen, speaking on behalf of Joshua Williams, who could not attend, discussed Japan’s space activities, saying its government regulatory policies need to begin allowing commercial development. Japan, she said, has potential in the creation of small satellites and work with big data and machine learning and has ambitions to be more than a “junior partner” in world space endeavors.

All the student presenters are doctoral students in international studies. Also participating were about two dozen representatives of the space industry, media, government and academia. These included Vulcan Inc., Aerojet Rocketdyne, the Museum of Flight, the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, Washington State University, the state of Washington, the Northwest Science Writers Association and GeekWire.

On hand also, bringing her NASA experience to the discussion, was Earth and space sciences doctoral student , a former astronaut who flew on the space shuttle’s STS-131 mission, April 5 to 20, 2010, a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

After the presentations, Pekkanen led a lively discussion of the challenges the various countries聽 face as they reach out to space, which touched on history, economics, infrastructure and the Pacific Northwest as a growing hub for space-related industry.

UW faculty participating were Pekkanen as well as , research associate professor of Earth and space sciences and associate director of the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium; , Jackson School affiliate professor and principal senior fellow with the Space Security Initiative; and , professor of aeronautics and astronautics.

The Space Security Initiative, called SSI for short, is part of the Jackson School’s , which is funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The initiative works to bridge the gap between academics and practitioners in space and related industries. Starting in April, junior SSI fellows have researched and posted at the Jackson School website.

“Seattle is a new hub for space,” Pekkanen said after the meeting. “And we need to start bringing together all kinds of public and private stakeholders to better understand what is happening here in a global context, and to take the Pacific Northwest forward as space realities change worldwide. So we are taking those initial formative steps with SSI, and we will go from there.”

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For more information about the Space Security Initiative, contact Pekkanen at 206-543-6148 or smp1@uw.edu.

is associate director and the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor in the . The founding director of the school’s doctoral program, she also holds adjunct appointments in both political science and law. She has master’s degrees from Yale Law School and Columbia University and a doctorate from Harvard University, and joined the 天美影视传媒 in 2004.

Have you always been interested in space?

I have! Although I have to say, funnily enough, when I arrived at Harvard and said that’s what I am interested in doing, I remember some faculty said, “You know, seems like too much of a niche thing for one dissertation 鈥� what’s the big picture?” Though they didn’t really advise against it.

So did you put the interest aside for a while?

I did not. I did a chapter from my dissertation and then sort of went from there. And I’ve been following civil, commercial and military space affairs ever since.

And little did I imagine, coming here 10 years ago, that the Pacific Northwest was going to become the amazing regional space player that it is becoming. There are people here very committed not just to space travel but also to advancing the technology, and it’s unique to have them all concentrated in this area. It is becoming a sort of “space valley” 鈥� the Silicon Valley for space 鈥� and I feel utterly lucky!

You co-chair the , which recently met in Washington, D.C. What is that group and its mission?

This is a standing group with stakeholders from the United States and Japan, which brings different angles to the space policy table in both countries. As you know, Japan is a security ally of the United States. In 2013 the two counties launched a government-to-government dialogue with the idea of figuring out how as the geopolitics of the region changed, they could cooperate better in terms of space technology, which would also of course affect their security.

But space has become very democratized, in the sense that it’s beyond governments. It’s not just a question of private companies 鈥� it’s also now down to the billionaires who are helping us change some of the technologies and trajectories. The other important change is that it’s not just Western countries 鈥� the United States and Europe 鈥� that are dominant.

It used to be just us and the Russians.

Exactly 鈥� but that world is gone. I’d say the world’s most important, rising and ambitious space players are now in Asia 鈥� China and Japan, of course, and also India. And all of them have civilian, commercial and military ambitions in space.

It’s not just about the space technology anymore, it’s about the geopolitical context in which these newer powers are developing them. The Forum reflects these realities.

You have written of the dangers of a “counterspace race.” What is that?

This is the race we are in, very different from your grandfather’s space race. Counterspace means that you have the ability to protect your friends and deter your rivals in operations out there. Because of the way space assets are linked to civilian, commercial and military life on the planet, that can also mean enabling or crippling systems down here. All this affects the balance of power among countries at a fundamental level.

The U.S. is the world’s most “dependent” space power in the sense that our civilian, commercial and military life rely on those assets more heavily than other countries 鈥� GPS, for example, and communications, navigation or weather satellites. And for the military, of course, reconnaissance is important, too, as well as aiding fighters carrying out operations on the ground. So this dependency is a vulnerability, the Achilles heel of the U.S., and everyone knows it.

If you look at the National Defense Authorization Act, it has become very strident about the fact that this counterspace threat is very serious, very deadly. So, institutionally the Pentagon is responding to this. And the U.S. is moving forward with like-minded allies to devise ways to safeguard freedom of space navigation, which is critical.

You write in about topics including the dangers of human-caused debris in Earth orbit. It needs cleaning up, but that process also has a darker side. Would you explain?

The dark side is that the technologies that might be used to get rid of orbital debris 鈥� to, say, sort of drag it down, zap it and bump it out of orbit 鈥� are the same technologies that can knock out your functioning assets.

So of course for a dependent space power like the United States, that’s a huge concern. The U.S. is responding by elevating the institutional focus on debris threats within the Department of Defense.

I think they’ve been thinking about it for some time, but now it’s politically clear they have a mandate to go after this, to ensure that the heavens are safe and sustainable 鈥� those are the watchwords for the global community, too.

The threat is very real, you write.

I want to be very clear when I make this statement: I do see considerable threats in space. And these will have consequences for humanity’s ventures in outer space. This is where the counterspace race comes in, with fairly irresponsible behavior by the world’s leading space players.

For example, certain countries have used direct ascent missiles and have created orbital debris. Everybody cites the example of test in 2007 (said to be the largest recorded creation of space debris in history) 鈥� but China is not the only one doing things.

Russia has demonstrated what we call co-orbital satellite operations, going around other satellites with the potential to take them down. India is also interested in going after military space. Japan pioneered the technology back in the late 1990s. And the United States has both offensive and defensive counterspace abilities.

What is 鈥� or could be 鈥� the UW’s Jackson School of International Studies’ role in such discussions?

One of the most exciting things happening here at the Jackson School is the , which was formed through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The idea is to bridge the gap between what academics know and what policymakers might want to know. It’s hard for academics to convert what they do into “policyspeak,” and one of the goals of the institute is to give our faculty the chance to communicate some of their ideas to the real world.

What comes first, as you begin this work?

Right now, for the first year we are focusing on space, cyberspace and also the Arctic 鈥� each a sort of new frontier in terms of U.S. foreign policy, but also the global community. We just had a where we connected with policymakers in the D.C. area, and we will return east to communicate the messages to more policymakers later in the year.

You have said we are at “a very pivotal crossroads” as far as space affairs are concerned. Would you say more?

I seriously believe that we can put Seattle and the Pacific Northwest on the map with respect to elevating peaceful solutions to issues in outer space, particularly with respect to getting rid of debris. And one of my missions is to make that possible.

So I am spending some time not just with the private sector stakeholders here in the community, but also working very closely with the Museum of Flight people, to expand the educational mission.

We have to raise public awareness about the issue, because I think that most people say of orbital debris, “What is that?”

We also have to realize that the technology and the policy go together. And what we are going to create here is a community of stakeholders who meet on a regular basis to discuss these issues and to figure out how we can connect to these larger global security issues.

Certainly, I feel the U.S. does need to protect its interests because it has the most to lose out there. But you cannot leave diplomacy out of the question, because in the end you have to bring every stakeholder to the table. We can’t do that with just one space power acting alone.

This gathering of stakeholders sounds a bit like the recent climate talks in Paris.

I’m glad you brought that up, because how long did that take? It took over 50 years to come to fruition and a lot begins with raising consciousness about a global problem.

So I feel we’re at the beginning. We are just starting the conversation, and the way to position what we are doing in Seattle and the Jackson School is to help advance that conversation for the future.

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For more information, contact Pekkanen at 206-543-6148 or smp1@uw.edu. To learn more about the Jackson School and its work, contact Monique Thormann, director of communications, at 206-685-0578 or thormm@uw.edu.

The daylong conference is titled “.”

Jackson School Director will welcome the participants. , vice chairman of the Cohen Group, will deliver the conference’s keynote address. He is also former U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, ambassador to Turkey and assistant secretary of state for European Affairs. , longtime professor of international studies, will give concluding remarks.

The conference will feature three panels moderated by members of the UW community.

• , managing director of the Canadian Studies Center, will moderate on “Changing Political and Economic Dynamics in the Arctic: Nation-States and Indigenous Permanent Participants.”
• , professor and associate director of the Jackson School, will moderate a panel on “New Regions, New Frontiers: Pacific Northwest and Asia in Outer Space.”
• , associate professor in the Jackson School and Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and director of the , will moderate a panel on “Public-Private Collaborations in Establishing International Cybersecurity Norms.”

“This New Frontiers conference launches the 天美影视传媒’s new ,” said Kasaba. “This institute intends to聽generate original thinking on emerging topics in international affairs and bring a聽new and uniquely Pacific Northwest voice to the policy conversation.”

Kasaba said the event “continues and expands upon” the school’s ongoing work to connect academic and research insights with international affairs practitioners, business leaders and policymakers and international development experts as well as media representatives and security professionals from Seattle to Washington, D.C.

The event is a collaborative effort between the Jackson School and the American Academy of Diplomacy, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “support and strengthen U.S. diplomacy and enhance public appreciation of its critical role in advancing the national interest.” It is made possible through support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

Also attending the conference will be representatives of the RAND Corp., the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Department of State, Microsoft Corp., The Seattle Times and Aerojet Rocketdyne, among others.

The conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in Room 334 of the Husky Union Building on the UW campus. The event is free but organizers request that those planning to attend .

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For more information, contact Kristina Bowman, Jackson School communications specialist, at 206-221-1323 or kriscb@uw.edu; Monique Thormann, director of communications, at thormm@uw.edu; or Jennifer Butte-Dahl, organizer and Jackson School lecturer, at 206-221-8577 or jenbd@uw.edu.