{"671629":{"#nid":"671629","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Borowitz Takes Her Space Expertise to Washington ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMariel Borowitz, space policy expert in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/inta.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESam Nunn School of International Affairs\u003C\/a\u003E, has taken her expertise to Washington, where she serves part-time as the director of international space situational awareness engagement in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENOAA\u2019s Office of Space Commerce is developing a civil space situational awareness system \u2014 the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) \u2014 that could go live as soon as late 2024. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/mariel-borowitz\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBorowitz\u003C\/a\u003E is helping to coordinate U.S. efforts with parallel activities in other nations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI believe that productive international coordination is essential for space situational awareness \u2014 all space actors are operating in the same physical space, and we need to ensure that we have a shared understanding of where objects are in space and when those objects are in danger of colliding. We need to communicate quickly and effectively to address those risks,\u201d she said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBorowitz\u2019s invitation to join NOAA followed 2022 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/658364\/borowitz-testifies-need-civil-sector-space-monitoring\u0022\u003Etestimony\u003C\/a\u003E before a Congressional committee, where she argued that moving the space situational awareness mission to a civil agency created opportunities for increased transparency and openness, improved international cooperation, and better engagement with the commercial and academic sectors.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESpace situational awareness involves monitoring the locations of satellites and debris, determining where these objects are likely to be in the future, and warning satellite and spacecraft operators of potential collisions.\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile the U.S. Department of Defense has traditionally taken the global lead in this role, other nations and private companies have begun their own tracking efforts. Discussions on whether the military should hand the role to a civil agency started under the Obama administration. The Trump administration moved forward with a plan that called for the transition of traffic coordination oversight to a civil agency and chose the Department of Commerce. The Biden administration has been executing this transition with the development of TraCSS.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe TraCSS system will provide basic data, including collision warnings, using data from government and private sources. Private operators will be able to offer more sophisticated services to supplement the Commerce system.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBorowitz, a leading space policy scholar, has studied the idea extensively. In 2019, she published a paper, \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0265964617300164#:~:text=Implications%3A%20embrace%20and%20promote%20global,accurate%20attribution%20of%20purposeful%20attacks.\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStrategic Implications of the Proliferation of Space Situational Awareness Technology and Information\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d in which she argued that increased data sharing and transparency would help to promote space safety and sustainability.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETwo years later, she published \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/digitalcommons.law.uga.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=2487\u0026amp;context=gjicl\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELegal Considerations and Future Options for Space Situational Awareness\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d followed in 2022 by \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0265964621000369\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EExamining the Growth of the Global Space Situational Awareness Sector- A Network Analysis Approach\u003C\/a\u003E.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBorowitz is no stranger to working with the federal government on space policy. She was a policy analyst for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate from 2016 to 2018. She will work with the Commerce Department part-time for two years. In the meantime, she will spend half of her week working on research and other Georgia Tech duties.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m excited to work with colleagues in the United States and around the world to help advance this effort and build a system that ensures space remains safe and sustainable now and in the future,\u201d Borowitz said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBorowitz is not the only Georgia Tech faculty member working on the project. The project\u2019s chief engineer is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/inta.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/ea596799-38af-5c7e-b588-b71c8fab2ee8\u0022\u003ESandra \u201cSandy\u201d Magnus\u003C\/a\u003E, Ph.D. MSE 1996, a professor of the practice with joint appointments in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, the\u202fSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, and the\u202fNunn School.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EShe is working with a Department of Commerce team working to transition tracking of satellites and debris to civilian from military control.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"She is working with a Department of Commerce team working to transition tracking of satellites and debris to civilian from military control."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2023-12-18 17:28:21","changed_gmt":"2023-12-18 17:38:50","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-12-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-12-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"658431":{"id":"658431","type":"image","title":"Mariel Borowitz","body":null,"created":"1653326278","gmt_created":"2022-05-23 17:17:58","changed":"1653326278","gmt_changed":"2022-05-23 17:17:58","alt":"Mariel Borowitz posing in front of a satellite dish on a rooftop.","file":{"fid":"249602","name":"SPPINTA 16x9 (2).jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/SPPINTA%2016x9%20%282%29_3.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/SPPINTA%2016x9%20%282%29_3.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":149581,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/SPPINTA%2016x9%20%282%29_3.jpg?itok=N3P5vJhO"}}},"media_ids":["658431"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/668162\/georgia-tech-researchers-lead-pioneering-space-wargaming-series","title":"Georgia Tech Researchers to Lead Pioneering Space Wargaming Series"},{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/651785\/global-challenges-opportunities-space-foreign-policy-with-mariel-borowitz","title":"Global Challenges and Opportunities: Space and Foreign Policy with Mariel Borowitz"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1285","name":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"167707","name":"Space Policy"},{"id":"90271","name":"NOAA"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}