Space Policy Takes Center Stage at AMOS

The 27th Annual AMOS Conference returns to Maui September 15-18, bringing together leaders and experts from government, industry, academia, and the military to foster important dialogue and international collaboration on Space Situational Awareness.

The conference will open with a keynote address by General Stephen N. Whiting, Commander, U.S. Space Command. General Whiting has held leadership roles across the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Strategic Command, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Space Force, overseeing military space operations and national security initiatives. Read more here.

Each morning’s AMOS Policy Forum, presented in partnership with the Secure World Foundation, will bring together operators, technology developers, and policymakers to discuss the technical, operational, and policy challenges influencing space domain awareness and spaceflight safety.

Following General Whiting’s keynote, the forum will address the growing role of dual-use space situational awareness capabilities in a discussion titled “Much Ado About Tracking: Navigating Dual-Use SSA”. Moderated by Victoria Samson, Chief Director of Space Security and Stability at Secure World Foundation, the panel will feature Hilary Cohen, Director of Operations, HEO USA; Krista Langeland, Senior Physical Scientist, RAND Corporation; Jessica Tok, Space Policy Analyst, DoW OSW(P) Space Policy; and Colonel Jonathan Whitaker, Chief of Staff for NATO’s Combined Force Space Component Command and Director of the NATO Space Operations Centre.

The technologies used for civilian SSA can also be used to monitor military satellites or space assets of adversarial nations. This is especially true for some of the new in-space SSA constellations. Also, there is an increasingly blurred line between inspector satellites and SSA satellites. Finally, as the U.S. Government continues to turn to space as a service model, this makes the line between what is and what is not a military space capability amorphous.

This panel will discuss considerations for SSA operators and providers and what the current state is of policies and governance mechanisms, with the goal of providing clarity to both sides for how to allow this evolution to continue while also ensuring a stable, predictable space environment for all.

Government space safety systems are in the process of defining and operationalizing basic SSA and space safety services. Programs such as TraCSS and EU-SST have been working jointly to research and map alignment between offerings as the baseline services are defined.  At the same time, a United Nations Expert Group is seeking to establish basic space traffic coordination principles at the international level; and a leading satellite operator has announced a system to provide free of charge certain public SSA services based on information collected through operations. Throughout all of these, a still-emerging commercial SSA industry is working to build out value-added services and products based on SSA information and analysis.

 This discussion will center on the question of what is the basic minimum SSA information or service that should be provided as free or public good and the models for doing so, while at the same time enabling commercial or fee-based services to develop.

As launch operations increase in tempo and become more routine occurrences, the need to address a number of operational challenges in the integration of SSA information into launch operations become more acute. These issues include addressing and reducing the “COLA gap;” clarifying the respective roles of satellite and launch operators in identification and tracking immediately after separation; improving SSA information related to re-entry of space objects and launch vehicles; and addressing growing questions around the integration of launch activities into air traffic operations.

This panel will discuss current policy and operational efforts to address these issues and examine where progress has been made to date. It will also look at how best to improve integration of launch operations into national and international space traffic coordination systems.

In addition to keynote presentations and Policy Forum discussions, the conference will feature technical sessions, exhibits, poster presentations, networking events, and 12 technical short courses covering current challenges and innovations across the space sector.

Featured presentations include:

• Evolution of SSA Capabilities to Support SDA and STM presented by Brian Weeden, Director of Civil and Commercial Policy at The Aerospace Corporation
• SDA’s Tech Roadmap and the Space Domain Awareness Mission Areas presented by Russell Teehan, Technical Director at the Space Development Agency
• Strategic Orchestration of the S&T Enterprise: A Framework for Accelerating Technology into Capability presented by Jeremy C. Andrews, Director of Science, Technology and Engineering at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration
• Forging United States Space Superiority: A Collaborative Framework Securing Space from vLEO Through Cislunar presented by Colonel Max Yates, Chief of the Space Electro-Optics Division at AFRL/RDS, and Enrico Jeantete, Director of the Innovation and Prototyping Division at SSC/SYD
• Commercial Space Updates presented by Barbara Golf, Strategic Advisor for Space Domain Awareness with the Space Systems Command, U.S. Space Force

The conference will conclude with the AMOS Closing and Awards Ceremony, followed by a Pau Hana Reception where attendees can connect with colleagues and reflect on the week’s discussions and achievements.

View the full program

Presented by Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), the AMOS Conference brings together the global space community through both in-person and virtual participation, with livestream access to all presentations. In-person registration sold out months in advance, reflecting continued demand for the conference’s technical program and networking opportunities. Conference programming will also be available through the event’s virtual platform and mobile app, providing attendees worldwide access to presentations, networking opportunities, and the exhibit hall experience.

The 2026 AMOS Conference is sponsored by: a.i. solutions, Advanced Scientific Concepts, Advanced Space, Aerospace Corporation, Amazon Leo, Amazon Leo for Government, Amentum, Anduril, Astro Haven Enterprises, Astroscale, ATIK Cameras, AV, BAE Systems, Blue Canyon Technologies, CACI, Celestron, Ciena, COMSPOC, Diffraction Limited, EO Solutions, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, GMV, Green Optics, Hart Scientific Consulting International, Hawaii Technology Development Corporation, JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, Kayhan Space, KBR, Kratos, L3 Harris, LeoLabs, Līpoa – Maui’s Innovation Community, Lockheed Martin, LSAS Tec, Mantis Space, Mitre Corporation, Nokomis, Northrop Grumman, Observable Space, Orion Space Solutions, Parsons, Peraton, Privateer, Raptor Dynamix, Rocket Lab, SAIC, Sea West Observatories, SEAKR, Sedaro, Slingshot Aerospace, SpaceFlux, SpaceMap, SpaceNav, Teledyne, Telesat Government Solutions, Terran Orbital, The Boeing Company, TOPTICA Photonics, True Anomaly, Trusted Space, Turion Space, Ultra – For All Mankind, and Voyager Technologies.