During the last two weeks I participated in two new (for me) conferences.  At the American Bar Association’s (ABA) annual Air & Space Law Forum in Montreal, I was part of the “Private Human Spaceflight Considerations” panel chaired by Patti Smith, former Associate Administrator of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.  At the Future Aerospace Congress 2008 in Florida I presented an “Introduction to the NewSpace Industry” as part of the NewSpace session I was asked to organize.

Both events had enlightening and rewarding moments.

The ABA forum
The keynote speaker was Roberto Gonzales, the President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).  After his talk about the challenges faced by commercial aviation around the world, I found myself thinking about when the world will need an International Commercial Space Organization to support the needs of NewSpace companies around the world.  The day will come.

Wondering why the ABA forum was held in Montreal?  It was co-sponsored by McGill University’s Institute for Air and Space Law, and ICAO HQ is there as well.  Many current and former McGill students were in the audience, and several of them talked with me after my panel comments.  Two young ladies, one a recent McGill graduate and the other still in school, were very excited as they told me about their plans to start a NewSpace consulting business in their home country of Mexico… and then they asked me to help.

Another student was thrilled with the development of commercial spaceports and shared with me his pre-publication manuscript, “Law and Regulation Governing U.S. Commercial Spaceports:  Licensing, Liability, and Legal Challenges."

During the reception that evening, I spoke with more students, and the common theme was a powerful excitement about and belief in the NewSpace industry, and a desire to enter the legal profession to support the industry’s development.

Future Aerospace Congress 2008
An annual event organized by Virtus International, I learned about it at the International Association for Space Entrepreneurs website (I’m a member) and promptly called the event manager and offered to give a NewSpace presentation as there was none on the agenda.  I’m not exaggerating when I say I added a new dimension to the participants’ views about human space activity.  One company President told me afterward, “You have restored my faith that humans will do great things in space.”  Along with excitement about NewSpace, I interpreted that as disappointment in NASA’s human space program, which for me was underscored by NASA’s presentation.

A Deputy Director from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) presented NASA’s history (does it help or hurt NASA to keep telling us about Apollo?) and Constellation Program.  While an interesting presentation, I found it telling that he didn’t mention COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) until someone in the audience asked about it, and he didn’t know how much money NASA was spending on COTS.  In a similar vein, his slides showed the Orion capsule being used for transportation to the International Space Station (ISS).  All in all, a pretty good indication of how KSC management views NewSpace.

He also emphasized the decades of spinoff technologies that have come from NASA programs, to the point of saying that NASA’s mission isn’t just sending the space shuttle to the ISS, it also exists to develop technologies.  Ok, then let’s see much less ownership and operation of space transportation vehicles and much more technology development and risk reduction.

As for spinoffs, that rationale for supporting NASA has been used for decades and it has absolutely failed to create greater and more sustainable public and Congressional support for NASA.  Either tell the story better, or tell a different story.  And one last thought on spinoffs:  if NASA hadn’t developed them, are we supposed to believe that none of them would have been developed elsewhere?

On the brighter NASA side, Doug Comstock (Director, NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program Office) gave a sterling presentation of the ways his office is supporting the NewSpace Industry, and I can think of no NASA office more deserving of a much larger budget.  Thank you, Doug, for accepting my invitation to be part of the NewSpace session at this event.