Space Policy and History Forum

Note: This is an academic event for members of the space policy and space history communities.

Open Data in the "New Space" Environment

Presenter: Dr. Mariel Borowitz, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, with comments by Martin Collins, National Air and Space Museum curator of civilian application satellites.

Some of the earliest references to "open data" can be traced back to early government satellite projects.  In some cases, government agencies that operate Earth-observing satellites have been leaders in this regard - making their data freely available to all users. However, many governments continue to restrict access to their unclassified Earth-observing satellite data, and even those that now make their data freely available did not always do so. But, understanding and addressing environmental challenges, including climate change, requires access to accurate data from many sources. This talk examines how government agencies developed data sharing policies for their Earth observation satellites and how these data sharing policies changed over time. The insights from this study can help to improve international sharing of data critical for understanding environmental challenges and provide insight into the open data movement more broadly.

Space is limited to 50 attendees, so please RSVP here. 

Date and Time
Monday, April 23 ,2018, 4:30 to 5:30 pm. There will be a post-lecture happy hour open to all Forum attendees. 

Location
The Forum will take at the National Air and Space Museum (601 Independence Ave SW). Registered attendees will receive further arrival instructions. 

Presenter
Mariel Borowitz is an assistant professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. Her research deals with international space policy issues, primarily international cooperation in Earth-observing satellites, and satellite data sharing policies. She also looks at international trends in commercial remote sensing and civil-military interactions in remote sensing technology and data. Her research interests extend to human space exploration strategy and developments in space security and space situational awareness. Borowitz earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy at the University of Maryland and a Masters degree in International Science and Technology Policy from the George Washington University. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also earned a minor in Applied International Studies. Borowitz is currently on detail at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, through fall 2018.

Questions?
Contact Teasel Muir-Harmony. 

About the Space Policy and History Forum
The Space Policy and History Forum is organized by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space, with support from the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), a federally funded research and development center created by Congress to support the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and other executive agencies in the federal government.