horizon space

21 Guidelines for the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities

Aerospace

MITRE's Response to the U.S. State Department's Notice 11630: Seeking Private Sector Written Input on Implementation of the 21 Guidelines for the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities.

Space activities are a critical component of the national and international space enterprise that MITRE helps design, build, and secure—making our world safer and more prosperous. As space transitions from a government-led, specialized infrastructure to a multi-player, commodity-based system of systems, MITRE places the long-term sustainability of outer space activities at the center of our thinking.

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MITRE knows tomorrow's space environment will be more complex and crowded than ever. Vehicles will increasingly become commodities, configured and deployed quickly. Many will be highly autonomous, with off-the- shelf vulnerabilities leaving them open to cyber-attack and other vulnerabilities.

Combining decades of knowledge and highly skilled staff, MITRE serves as an impartial and objective adviser, free from commercial conflicts of interest. MITRE is an R&D innovation partner to the U.S. and international organizations, focusing on all aspects of space infrastructure design, spanning policy framework formulation, spaceflight safety operations, and capacity building. This breadth of scope allows MITRE to function as a go-between, fostering and cementing technology-related relationships and discussions across many levels of government, commerce, and academia.

What concrete actions your organization has taken to improve the long-term sustainability of outer space and what specific LTS guidelines correspond to those actions?

Specifically, the following MITRE efforts directly align with LTS guidelines as indicated below:

  1. Sensor Network Autonomous Resilient Extensible (SNARE). SNARE is a MITRE architectural and operational concept (in prototype) that uses permissioned blockchain for a space-based sensor network that is sensor agnostic and extensible. It enables traditional and non-traditional sensor data to achieve greater observational capacity and information gain.
  2. Collaboration with the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) and Critical Infrastructure thought leadership. MITRE is a founding member and significant contributor to the Space ISAC. Sector-based Information Sharing and Analysis Centers collaborate via the National Council of ISACs. Formed in 2003, the NCI today comprises 27 organizations.
  3. Space Information Sharing Ecosystems (SISE). MITRE has been at the forefront of fundamental, applied, and formative research and development for Space Information Sharing Ecosystems (SISE) design concepts that enhance innovations in space activities capacity development. This work contributes to its responsible use and influences positive behavioral norms. SISE includes emerging and future technology innovations such as artificial intelligence, shared vocabularies, capacity innovations, Blockchain immutability, consensus algorithms, Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBM), and the benefits of polycentric information sharing designs.
  4. MITRE's International Space Strategy and the engagement activities therein are designed with three pillars that span and balance efforts across defense, preservation and sustainability, and organizational and policy components of space use. This strategy's goals are:
    1. Contributing to fostering a coalition of global space partners to achieve a common understanding of the challenges and collaboration on proposed solutions.
    2. Provide an environment to work seams between international partners and the U.S.
    3. Cooperatively contribute to a global space-domain awareness enterprise architecture.

Read the full MITRE Response to Notice 11630: Click Here