“Space Sustainability: The ability to maintain the conduct of space activities indefinitely into the future in a manner that is safe, peaceful, and responsible to meet the needs of the present generations while preserving the outer space environment for future activities and limiting harm to terrestrial life.” — NASA’s Space Sustainability Strategy Volume 1: Earth Orbit

Silicon Flatirons is organizing a conference in Boulder, CO on June 24–25, 2025 to explore the challenges in maintaining space as a resource.

The conference will bring together experts from the scientific, commercial, regulatory, and defense sectors to look out over different time horizons and discuss questions such as:

• How might we manage radio frequency (RF) spectrum, in space and terrestrially, to avoid harmful interference between scientific, commercial, and defense systems?

• What challenges do mega-constellations pose to space sustainability? What policies and regulations are required to manage RF spectrum conflicts between multiple satellite systems? What is the carrying capacity of space?

• Space is a relatively new domain for spectrum management with different characteristics than the surface of the Earth. Is this an opportunity to re-write the book on spectrum management?

• What role does standards play? What enforcement mechanisms are necessary to ensure compliance in an international regime? Between penalties and incentives, which is more likely to modulate stakeholder conduct?

• What policies and regulations are required to sustain space as a common resource? Areas to regulate would include: traffic management; end-of-life disposal; debris management; and recycling.

• Dark and RF-quiet skies are important for a variety of terrestrial concerns. For example, for many indigenous people, the moon and stars are part of their mythology and culture. Professional astronomers and amateur sky-gazers alike wish for pristine skies. How do we balance these concerns?

The Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Colorado Law School.