2021 ASCEND Diverse Dozen—Space Traffic Management Forum

There are a growing number of state actors and new satellites in space, as well as an accelerating drive for space commerce and exploration. In an effort to address this, and coming from a space of honoring and respecting the relationships and relatedness among all things, Moriba Jah, an astrodynamicist and space environmentalist, has partnered with ASCEND to create a first-of-kind annual event that invokes 12 diverse and unique voices from humanity to tell the world about salient issues in space safety, security, and sustainability.

What seems to be missing from the space community writ large is an inclusive conversation about how best to go about doing these things as one humanity. These 12 authors are also the featured speakers in a series of rapid-fire lightning talks that highlight the most important issues surrounding safety, security, and sustainability in the context of space traffic. What needs to happen in order for space to be more transparent, more predictable, and to have a globally accessible pool of evidence to help people make decisions and hold them accountable for their behaviors in this shared domain?

The ASCEND Diverse Dozen represent a profile of human constituents with thoughts worth sharing!