Meeting 6, Washington, D.C., February 2018

The sixth meeting of the U.S.-Japan Space Forum in Washington last week concluded with a public seminar that met one of the group’s key goals — facilitating communication between the science and space policy communities and the security, armed services, and foreign policy communities. The February 1 public seminar, “Space in the Abe-Trump Era: New Threats, New Actors” provided a platform for members of the Space Forum to discuss the importance of U.S.-Japan collaboration on space with Japanese policy expert Sheila Smith (Council on Foreign Relations) and defense policy expert and alumni Mansfield Fellow John Hill (U.S. Department of Defense) (pictured above with Space Forum members Masao Akiyama (IHI, Inc.), Hideshi Kozawa (GPAS), and Mansfield Foundation President and CEO Frank Jannuzi. The seminar also examined the emergence of new space technologies and actors and the challenges of reforming the legal and regulatory ecosystem to accommodate these developments. The seminar concluded with a keynote address by former assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance Frank Rose (Aerospace Corporation). Mr. Rose’s remarks on the Trump administration’s approach to the development of norms for outer space were covered in a February 2 article in SpaceNews. The seminar was co-hosted by the George Washington University Space Policy Institute and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. The Space Forum’s meetings earlier in the week included a working lunch with Representative Ami Bera, Ranking Member, Space Committee, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (pictured above).