ABOUT SPACEAIMS
SPACEAIMS is a public policy consulting platform focused on space diplomacy.
Our mission is to strengthen, support, and secure the foundations of space diplomacy. We equip decision-makers with expert insight, training, and tabletop exercises.
Translating expertise into action.
Space shapes every sector and converges with critical technologies, expanding prosperity and defense opportunities for both established and emerging spacefaring actors. Space diplomacy is how actors navigate these stakes — enabling collaborative, mutually beneficial outcomes through dialogue, learning, and global engagement.
SPACEAIMS equips decision-makers to understand and act on these opportunities through space diplomacy.
We deliver our work through the A.B.E.T.® platform:
Advise | Brief | Educate | Train
This platform brings policy-relevant academic expertise directly to decision-makers worldwide, anchored in two pillars.
Decision-Relevant Skillsets
Decision-makers need to know what to do and how to do it. We build practical capability through customized dialogues, professional development bootcamps, and tabletop exercises (TTX).
Trustworthy Information Ecosystem
Decision-makers need timely, reliable information. We support a shared understanding of risks and opportunities across civilian, commercial, and military space through research, public engagement, and The Space Diplomacy Newsletter on substack.
PEOPLE
We leverage academic expertise, policy-relevant research, and global networks.
SPACEAIMS is founded and led by Saadia M. Pekkanen, who works with a trusted network of independent academics, experts, and advisors.
Together, we combine rigorous research, real-world experience, and global connections to support decision-makers in their space diplomacy endeavors through the A.B.E.T.® platform.
In partnership with Meridian International Center, SPACEAIMS advances a Washington-to-Washington platform on space diplomacy, connecting senior leaders through executive training and dialogue to strengthen decision-making in complex space environments.
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). For more information on on her please visit her website at maiakdaviscross.com.
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.
Dimitrios Stroikos
Dimitrios 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.