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Mr. Todd Pennington was the featured guest on this month's episode of the Space Advisory Podcast, discussing his recent paper on strategy in space frontier areas (xGEO and cislunar space, and beyond). In the episode, Mr. Pennington describes new frontiers for space operations, discusses various kinds of activities likely to emerge there, and presents a framework for strategic thinking about them.
The vast majority of space operations have, so far, been limited to a few families of near-Earth orbits (LEO, MEO, HEO, & GEO). However, the vast region of space beyond geostationary earth orbit, or xGEO, is projected to become important for strategic purposes in the near future. This is especially true of cislunar space, the region of space in which the gravity of Earth and moon is significant. There are well over 40 cislunar missions planned by various national space agencies and private companies between 2018 and 2030. At the same time, this region remains conceptually ambiguous. It lacks a single, globally accepted definition particularly regarding its precise boundaries and the rules governing its use, and its strategic importance is as much contested as it is defended.
In this episode, Wanyana Racheal, Principal Advisor at the Space Law and Security Advisory hosted Prof. Todd Pennington, Col (ret) USAF, on the Space Advisory podcast to discuss the strategic importance and governance of the space beyond the geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), which he theorises as ‘Space Frontier Areas’(SFA), in his recent paper, “Understanding Space Frontier Areas: Strategy in Cislunar Space and Beyond".
They discussed, among other things;
- The concept of Space Frontier Areas and its utility in space strategy and decision making.
- The potential operational challenges, benefits, and risks of operating in cislunar space and beyond, as compared to legacy orbital regimes (LEO, MEO, GEO, HEO);
- Whether the three body problem dynamics in these regions, exclusion zones, and lagrange points offer any strategic or operational opportunities.
- How the SFA might individually impact deterrence or strategic positioning;
- Which regions of the SFA are likely to have greater strategic utility in the nearest future.
- How the current space law regime approaches Space Frontier Areas; what aspects of operating therein does it address and what does it not?;
- What Governance challenges are likely to emerge in an increasingly active cislunar domain?
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