SE Valley Times

More than 200 leaders from academia, business, and government gathered in Tempe for the third annual Arizona Space Summit on March 19-20. The event aimed to promote Arizona as a key hub for the space industry.

Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona co-sponsored the summit. It featured discussions on collaboration between Arizona's space and semiconductor industries, leveraging research universities, and designing habitats for orbital and lunar stations.

Jessica Rousset, executive director of ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative, highlighted the rapid advancements in the global space sector. “We’re seeing an incredible pace of innovation and technological advances that are dramatically dropping costs and increasing capabilities,” she said.

Sally Morton from ASU’s Knowledge Enterprise emphasized ASU's involvement with NASA missions through its NewSpace Initiative. “The purpose is to really increase the chances of space enterprises getting off the ground,” Morton stated.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego noted Arizona's leadership in the space industry due to companies like Honeywell Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, and Blue Origin. She also mentioned economic developments that could attract future workforce opportunities in Phoenix.

Gallego remarked on Arizona's history of innovation in space-related fields: “I don’t think we tell that story well enough.”

An afternoon panel discussed designing habitats for commercial space stations and life-support systems for interplanetary missions. Gui Trotti from The Design School said: “With the acceleration of (space travel), we will not only have astronauts or highly trained people in space.”

Christian Maender from Barrios Technology expressed skepticism about widespread migration to space without tangible value beyond exploration. He stated: “You have to find real things that you can do in orbit... Profit is what drives the reason for people to put more things into space.”

The summit also addressed potential profit avenues like space mining. Anjani Polit from the University of Arizona referenced successful asteroid sample collection by OSIRIS-APEX mission as progress toward feasible mining operations.

Hugh Barnaby from ASU highlighted opportunities arising from collaborations between ASU’s semiconductor initiatives and national projects like CHIPS for America. Michael Rosas from the Arizona Commerce Authority called these partnerships a "complete game changer."

Zachary Holman at ASU encouraged aerospace companies to establish internship programs with universities to strengthen their workforce: “If you work at a company and you aren’t already taking interns from your local university, please do that.”

John Otto from Raytheon Technologies praised universities' efforts in fostering business-oriented research environments beneficial to industry growth.