ABOUT SPACEAIMS

Our mission is to strengthen, support, and secure the foundations of space diplomacy.

Space diplomacy enables collaborative and mutually beneficial outcomes through dialogue, learning, and engagement with partners across the world.

Opportunities for space diplomacy are expanding as the number of actors interested in space for prosperity and defense continues to rise all around the world.

All workplaces, everywhere, are affected by the new race to utilize space – whether in government, business, academia, military, intelligence, foundations, hospitals, associations, international organizations, or non-profits. The same workplaces face unprecedented change as space intersects with other technology frontiers – nuclear, cyber, robotics, quantum, and AI.

These combined transformations mean there are significant opportunities to build peaceful and collaborative projects, partnerships, procedures, and other linkages across regions and countries. SPACEAIMS can help you position to do that.

We are pioneering the A.B.E.T.® platform that brings academics direct to decision-makers. Our aim is to | Advise | Brief | Educate | Train | a worldwide audience interested in leveraging space diplomacy. Our work focuses on two pillars.

Decision-Relevant Skillsets

Space decision-makers need to know what to do and how to do it. We aim to upskill people with the knowledge to identify opportunities, the networks to pursue collaborations of interest, and the preparation to respond to crises. We do that through customized dialogues, professional development bootcamps, and table-top exercises (TTX).

Trustworthy Information Ecosystem

Space decision-makers need timely information and to trust where they get it. We aim to equip people with a shared understanding of the risks and rewards across civilian, commercial, and military space diplomacy. We do that through commissioned research projects, public speaking, and The Space Diplomacy Newsletter on substack.

PEOPLE

We leverage academic knowledge, expertise, and networks.

SPACEAIMS is founded and managed by Saadia M. Pekkanen, who works with independent academics, experts, and advisors to support the mission of space diplomacy. We pool our academic and policy knowledge, robust research skills, an ethos of bridge-the-gap and experiential training, and extensive networks around the world to A.B.E.T.® you in your space endeavors.

Saadia M. Pekkanen

Saadia M. Pekkanen is the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. In addition to this appointment in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, she is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor at the School of Law. She earned Master’s degrees from Columbia University and Yale Law School, and a doctorate from Harvard University in government. Her research is on space security, diplomacy, and international affairs with a focus on Japan and Asia. She is presently serving on the American Bar Association (ABA) Air and Space Law Planning Committee. She is an elected member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and a lifetime member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR). For more information on her please visit her website at saadiapekkanen.com.

P.J. Blount

P.J. Blount is Assistant Professor of Space Law at Durham University. He received a Ph.D. in Global Affairs, Rutgers University, an M.S. in Global Affairs from Rutgers University, an LL.M., Public International Law from King’s College London, a J.D from the. University of Mississippi School of Law, 2006, and a B.A./A.B.J., University of Georgia. His primary research areas are international space law related to space security, cyberspace law, and governance. He is currently the Executive Secretary of the International Institute of Space Law, and is a licensed attorney with the State Bar of Georgia (USA).

Mai’a K. Davis Cross

Mai’a K. Davis Cross is the Dean’s Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Diplomacy and Director of the Center for International Affairs and World Cultures at Northeastern University.  She holds a PhD in Politics from Princeton University, and a bachelor's degree in Government from Harvard University.  Her work focuses on diplomacy, public diplomacy, and space diplomacy, especially in terms of European and transatlantic relations. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Kelli Hooke

Kelli Hooke is Chair of the Executive Ethics Board of the State of Washington, and Associate General Counsel at Cloudfare responsible for public sector compliance including Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and well as applicable federal, state, and local government laws and regulations along with international government contracting laws and agency requirements. She previously served as Trial Team Chief, Contract and Fiscal Law Division, USA LSA, in the U.S. Army. She holds a Masters of Law (L.L.M) from The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, a Juris Doctor from Regent University, a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma (Magna Cum Laude), and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the Henry M. Jackson School of the University of Washington (Cum Laude). She has published and presented widely on the topics of space security law, drone law, and government contracting.  At the American Bar Association she serves both as Vice Chair of the Commercial Products & Services Committee, and Co-Chair of the Public Contract Law Membership Committee. She is a licensed Washington State attorney.

Kristi Morgansen

Kristi Morgansen is the Chair of the William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington. She received her BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, and an S.M. in Applied Mathematics and a PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University. Until joining the University of Washington, she was first a postdoctoral scholar then a senior research fellow in Control and Dynamical Systems at the California Institute of Technology. Her research interests focus on nonlinear systems where sensing and actuation are integrated, stability in switched systems with delay, and incorporation of operational constraints such as communication delays in control of multi-vehicle systems.

Demetrios Stroikos

Demetrios Stroikos is Head of the LSE IDEAS Space Policy Project, and Editor-in-Chief of the leading international journal Space Policy. He received his MSc in Modern Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford, and his PhD in International Relations from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research is on space politics, policy, and security, the international relations of Asian security with a focus on China and India, and technology and international relations.

CONTACT us

Please get in touch with us by sending us a task query or a set of questions of interest to you and your enterprise. We aim to get back to you in about two weeks. Our abettors stand ready to Advise, Brief, Educate, and Train ( A.B.E.T.®) you in your space diplomacy endeavors.

For more information, please fill out a message form on our Contact page, or get in touch with us directly at info@spaceaims.com.