The rise of Asia in the space industry brings both challenges and opportunities to the United States. The Pacific Northwest will play a further proactive role in facilitating the continued development of space industry and reinforcing cooperation between the US and Asia.
The emergence of space industry brings Seattle, a city of leading aeronautic and astronautic technology to the spotlight.“There is no such thing as a day without space”, said Roger Myers from Aerojet Rocketdyne, one of the world’s leading rocket manufacturers in the space security panel of the UW conference titled “New Frontiers in International Affairs: A Conversation on the Arctic, Space and Cybersecurity” hosted by the Jackson School’s new International Policy Institute (IPI).
In the IPI conference, Teresita C. Schaffer, former Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia, Dominic Gates, Aerospace Reporter at the Seattle Times, and Executive Director Roger Myers, Executive Director of Advanced-In-Space Programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne, discussed the role of the Pacific Northwest in facilitating the development of space security as well as in creating opportunities of cooperation between the United States and Asia.
Is the rise Asia in space technology going to bring more challenges or opportunities to the United States? To what extent should the private sector be involved in the highly sensitive and traditionally public-dominated space industry? What should be the role of the Pacific Northwest in furthering the development of space technology?
Panelists discussed the economic surge of Asia, specifically China and India. For the next ten years, the two regional powers will continue to challenge the U.S. in traditional areas such as trade and investment, and also in new areas including space and cyber technology.
The rise of Asia brings not only challenges, but also opportunities. Dominic Gates from the Seattle Times has been following the business stories of local firms that are actively engaged in aero-business. Mr. Gates sees a breakdown of monopoly in space industry, as more and more private enterprises have been involved in and devoted to the application of IT into space technology business. Asia is undoubtedly a large, emerging market for Seattle entrepreneurship.
As a leading company in space technology, Aerojet Rocketdyne has already had international business experience with global partners in Asia and Europe. Executive Director Roger Myers sees the space business becoming competitive globally. There is a proliferation of space capabilities around the world, emphasized Mr. Myers; many countries can now impact satellites performance.
By Muyang Chen (https://jsis.washington.edu/people/chen-muyang/)
