Space Technology and Policy Portfolio

This document provides a list of reports, papers, and other government documents that STPI has either developed independently or supported since April 2012. When the documents are publicly available, they are hyperlinked to their URLs. All other reports are available upon request with permission from the sponsor. Projects fall in five categories: Exploration and Space S&T; Space Commercialization and Legal/Policy/Regulatory Challenges; Strategic Planning/Coordination; Space Threats; and International Activities.

A. Exploration and Space Science and Technology

Space Science and Exploration

On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM)

Researchers demonstrate a Zero Launch Mass 3-D printer in Swamp Works at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Researchers demonstrate a Zero Launch Mass 3-D printer in Swamp Works at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Space Nuclear Power

B. Space Commercialization and Legal/Policy/Regulatory Challenges

Commercial Space

Regulations/Policy

  • Improving U.S. Export and Investment Regulations Pertaining to Space (In Progress)
  • Legal Framework for Commercial Activities in Space
  • FAA Cost of a Casualty Value for Determining Licensee Insurance Requirements
  • New Developments in the Commercial Space Sector
    • Examining the Diversity of Emerging Space Companies
    • A Brief History of Government Policies to Promote Commercial Space
  • Human Spaceflight Industry and Government Readiness for Regulation
  • Upcoming Activities in Outer Space Not Covered Under the Current Regulatory Regime

Small Satellites

A set of NanoRacks CubeSats is photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member after the deployment by the Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD).
A set of NanoRacks CubeSats is photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member after the deployment by the Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD).

C. Strategic Planning/Coordination/Agency Support

D. Space Threats

Hypersonics

An artist's rendering of the air-breathing, hypersonic X-43B, the third and largest of NASA's Hyper-X series flight demonstrators, which could fly later this decade.
An artist's rendering of the air-breathing, hypersonic X-43B, the third and largest of NASA's Hyper-X series flight demonstrators, which could fly later this decade.
  • Hypersonics Research and Development in the United States: An Overview of Current Programs
  • Coordinating National Efforts in Hypersonic Flight
  • Hypersonic Weapons Come of Age
  • A Threat to America's Global Vigilance, Reach, and Power–High-Speed, Maneuvering Weapons (National Academies)
  • Hypersonic T&E Investment Planning Study Phase II Final Report
  • Study on the Ability of the U.S. Test and Evaluation Infrastructure to Effectively and Efficiently Mature Hypersonic Technologies for Defense Systems Development: Summary Analysis and Assessment

Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CISR)

Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)

Space Weather/Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)

Blasts of particles and magnetic fields from the Sun that impact the magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble around the Earth.
Blasts of particles and magnetic fields from the Sun that impact the magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble around the Earth.

Space Situational Awareness (SSA)

Planetary Defense/Near Earth Objects (NEOs)

Space Debris

  • Valuable Orbits in Near-Earth Space and Their Vulnerability to Degradation
  • Challenges of Orbital Debris

E. International Activities

Earth OBS Strategy
Earth OBS Strategy