Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Borowitz’s Book Published by MIT Press

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Mariel Borowitz, assistant professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, has written a book titled, Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data. The book was published by MIT Press.

Understanding and addressing environmental challenges, including climate change, requires access to accurate data from many sources. In some cases, government agencies that operate Earth observing satellites have been leaders in this regard — making their data freely available to all users. In fact, some of the earliest references to “open data” can be traced back to early government satellite projects. 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. This book 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.

The book starts with a thorough review of the literature on data sharing and presents a practical model of data sharing policy development, looking at the role of the actors involved (agency officials, legislative officials, executive branch officials, and non-governmental organizations) and at the importance of the attributes of the data itself (economic, security, normative, and technical).

The book includes case studies of both the World Meterological Organization (WMO) and the Group on Earth Obersvations (GEO), providing some historical and international context in which data sharing decisions have been made. Borowitz then presents agency-level historical case studies looking at data sharing policy development in the space and meteorological agencies in the United States, Europe, and Japan (i.e. NASA, NOAA, USGS, DoD, ESA, EUMETSAT, JAXA, and JMA) as well as summaries of data sharing policy developments in the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). There is an appendix that discusses the data sharing policies of every nation that has ever owned an Earth observation satellite.

The final section discusses why some agencies have made their satellite data openly available while others haven’t and offers some practical recommendations on how international data sharing could be improved. Borowitz also specifically addresses the economics of data, commercial remote sensing, and the potential for public private partnerships, as well as challenges related to big data and other evolving technologies.

Borowitz’s research focuses on international space policy issues, primarily international cooperation in Earth observing satellites, and satellite data sharing policies. In the Spring, Borowitz will be teaching a class with Michael Salomone, professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, on Modeling, Simulation, and Military Gaming.

Summary sentence

Mariel Borowitz, assistant professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, has written a book titled, Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 12/21/2017 - 12:00

Contact

Jessica Palacios

Administrative Professional II

jessica.palacios@inta.gatech.edu

Associated importer

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Space Policy

space

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Georgia Tech Researchers to Lead Pioneering Space Wargaming Series

admin — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:15:12 +0000

Georgia Tech Researchers to Lead Pioneering Space Wargaming Series admin Mon, 06/26/2023 - 15:15

Space is, thankfully, a peaceful place. But that lack of conflict high overhead also obscures how little scholars down here know about the ways a conflict in orbit might play out, much less how to deter it.

Georgia Tech space policy expert Mariel Borowitz thinks she has a way to help clear up some of that confusion. Under a new $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, Borowitz plans to help lead a major series of public space wargaming exercises. They’re meant to tease out how current U.S. deterrence strategies might fall short when it comes to stopping a conflict in space and what can be done to improve them.

“When it comes to conflict in space, the stakes are enormously high and the challenges are extremely complex,” said Borowitz, an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. “This project will better equip us to understand whether existing deterrence models can help hold the line in space or whether another model is necessary to prevent a potentially devastating outbreak in orbit.”

Jon Lindsay, an associate professor in the Nunn School with a joint appointment in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, will work with Borowitz on the project, as will U.S. Space Force Lt. Col. Brian Stewart — a Nunn School Ph.D. graduate who now teaches at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Jacquelyn Schneider — a Hoover Fellow at The Hoover Center at Stanford University — rounds out the team.

A central theme of the project will be trying to understand how the concept of integrated deterrence applies to conflict in space. Integrated deterrence essentially boils down to a country using everything at its disposal to prevent conflict from escalating too far, from applying diplomatic and economic pressure to bringing the military into the mix.

Using such means to deter conflict in a global hotspot on the ground is tricky enough. Look no further than Ukraine for contemporary evidence of that.

But when that hotspot is space, conflict doesn’t just threaten stability in one part of the planet. It could quickly become a serious threat to civilian communications, commerce, and military operations across the globe. Despite the high stakes, trying to understand how to tamp down such conflict is something government officials and scholars are only beginning to tackle.

Much of the work in this space focuses on improving military technology to sense what adversaries are doing and improving the ability of militaries to destroy incoming attacks quickly. But this project highlights how no complex problem can be solved without considering both technological and human factors — a core competency of the Nunn School and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

“We understand entanglement from a technological standpoint, but we need to better understand how these entanglements affect perceptions and decisions, which ultimately shape deterrence,” Borowitz said. “And we need to have more clarity on how decisions to separate military and civilian systems or choices to integrate different sectors within the space domain more closely might affect deterrence, before billions of dollars are spent on these efforts.”

Borowitz and her colleagues have already staged versions of space conflict scenarios in the classroom at Georgia Tech. They are now broadening the scope and preparing for the first exercises, which could come as soon as September.

The team plans to hold wargaming sessions across the globe over the next few years, including at Georgia Tech and the Air Force Academy and in Washington, Brussels, Taiwan, and Tokyo. The sessions will include national security figures, scholars, students, and international partners.

The project is expected to generate a significant dataset of use to scholars, as well as a book, game design materials, and other assets to help other researchers continue the work, Borowitz said

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Mariel Borowitz and Jon Lindsay of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs will help lead a series of public wargaming exercises to test the limits of U.S. deterrence strategies in space.

Summary

Under a new $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, Mariel Borowitz plans to help lead a major series of public space wargaming exercises. They’re meant to tease out how current U.S. deterrence strategies might fall short when it comes to stopping a conflict in space and what can be done to improve them.

Dateline

Mon, 06/26/2023 - 12:00

michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu

Contact

Michael Pearson
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Associated importer

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wargaming

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Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

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school of cybersecurity and privacy

Military Technology

National Security

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Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Borowitz’s Book Published by MIT Press

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Georgia Tech Researchers to Lead Pioneering Space Wargaming Series

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