OSC Hosts Circular Space Economy Seminar

Today, the NOAA Office of Space Commerce kicked off the second seminar in our “Circular Space Economy” series, co-hosted with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

For more information about this event, visit the event webpage.

Opening Remarks:

The Department of Commerce recognizes the commercial space economy is a critical aspect of the US and global economies, with commercial activities driving most of the growth that we are seeing. 

How do we ensure that this growth is not only rapid but also resilient? 

The answer lies in the circular space economy. 

It’s an innovative approach that minimizes waste, maximizes resource efficiency, and unlocks new business opportunities. 

Areas you are working on are entirely new sectors of commerce that weren’t possible just a few years ago. 

As a facilitator and advocate for the U.S. commercial space industry, the Office of Space Commerce is here to help create the environment where this new economic paradigm can thrive, providing certainty for innovators and investors.

Circularity is not just about recycling but about a fundamental shift in design and operations to maximize resource efficiency. 

OSC is at the forefront of this transition, moving from its traditional role of promoting space commerce to now actively shaping its future through events like today.

The office is tasked with fostering an innovative and prosperous U.S. space industry while ensuring it operates in a resilient manner.

We do this through our key functions that support circularity, such as advocacy for policy and promoting incentives that encourage resiliency, protecting on-orbit assets and enabling on-orbit servicing missions, and by collaboration and outreach.

Hosting events like today to bring together industry leaders and researchers to strengthen collaboration and help drive innovation in in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing advances, designs for circularity, and in-situ resource utilization.

Using resources found in space, such as water ice on the Moon, to reduce dependence on Earth-based supply chains. 

This concept underpins the true regenerative nature of a circular space economy, with the ultimate goal being an ecosystem of companies, governments, and others in space who can make discoveries, advance quality of life, and bring economic and societal benefits to Earth as efficiently, safely, and predictably as possible.