Our workshops will dive straight into the vital logistics of living and working on the Moon, the security of space economic interests, governance, and the deployment of next-generation power grids and orbital habitats. Attendees are invited to join their selected breakout workshops. Click through the tabs to view both days of the agenda.
Workshop A Why the Moon, Why Now? â–Ľ
The Moon is, to many, the obvious next logical destination for human space endeavors beyond low Earth orbit. To NASA and its Artemis partners, the Moon Base is now the new multi-decadal project all are working together to realize. To scientists, the Earth’s natural satellite is a companion world holding definitive clues to the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, and possibly of many other planetary systems as well. To prospectors—at least the optimistic ones—the Moon offers the promise of a new Eldorado, rich enough to feed a “Gold Rush” predicated on an economically viable in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). To space entrepreneurs, the Moon is where the next big business venture and commercial opportunities lie, and where a wide range of new technologies will be demonstrated and tested. To geopolitical strategists and the military, the Moon is the new influence theater and warfare domain. To futurists, the Moon is where we become a multiplanet species.
Given the diversity of stakeholders and perspectives, can a common purpose and set of specific objectives be articulated regarding why we need to focus on the Moon, and why it should be done now? Led by Dr Pascal Lee, director of the Mars Institute, senior planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, and VP for Planetary Development at the NSS, this workshop will collect, synthesize, and if possible, unify all the good reasons we should aim for the Moon, establish a base there, and why we should do it now. This workshop will also be open to considering potential arguments for why we maybe should not, or should not now. The goal of the workshop is to collect input from all participants to help ensure our current national and international plans to return to the Moon and establish a base there are solidly founded, crisply articulated, realistically planned, and optimally implemented.
Workshop B Living and Working on the Moon â–Ľ
With clear direction and budgetary support from US leadership, a Moon Base will be built in the near future. From tasks, environment, food, to human experiences, an unprecedented level of development is needed in a short period of time. Speakers will share the current status of technology, understanding human realities in space, and cover a host of other topics related to a successful and thriving Moon Base. The workshop will work towards prioritizing what needs research, development, and what is ready to go and needs to be scaled now, to enable the US to successfully deploy and populate a Moon Base soon.
Workshop C Orbital Space Settlement Design Part 1 of 2 â–Ľ
Workshop A Powering the Future â–Ľ
"Scotty we need more power!" Captain Kirk famously proclaimed. His words continue to be true. Speakers will inform participants of the current state of power generation, storage, and distribution technologies of space as well as discussing exciting new developments and the work of private sector organizations in enabling scaled power in space and on the Moon. Participants in the workshop will develop a prioritization and evaluation of technologies and capabilities to directly support the Moon Base, with focus on the near now, but eyes to the future of scaled activities and presence across the entire surface of the Moon.
Workshop B Vital Economic Interests in Cislunar Space â–Ľ
The security of nations has always been convolved with their economies and economics is both influenced by and a tool of national security. Speakers in this workshop will share frameworks for understanding how the emerging space economy interacts with national economics and security and the workshop will develop a model for how LEO and Cislunar economies will extend and interact with national security and economics as we currently know them.
Workshop C Orbital Space Settlement Design Part 2 of 2 â–Ľ
Workshop A Space Economic Security â–Ľ
Today, the US Navy, in coordination with allies around the world, provides security and support to global sea-based logistics networks. In eras past, national navies as well as semi-private organizations such as the East India Companies, have provided similar security and support, suppressed bad behavior such as piracy and smuggling, while supporting global trade. As the global economy expands into space, so too does supply chain and logistics. Therefore, the need to secure the activity grows. Currently, neither the law, nor the capability is complete, and the needs are poorly defined. How will trade be secured for the LEO and Cislunar economies? Speakers will explore current paradigms and the workshop will develop a set of needs and possible scenarios that must be addressed.
Workshop B We’re Going to the Moon. Who Cares About the Outer Space Treaty? ▼
The rockets are being built. Companies are planning lunar mines, power systems, communications networks and settlements. Governments are forming competing coalitions. Surely a treaty written in 1967 cannot tell today’s entrepreneurs how to build a lunar economy. Or can it?
This interactive workshop will put the Outer Space Treaty to work. Participants will confront a fast-moving lunar scenario involving rival settlements, competing resource operations, safety zones, damaged infrastructure and interference with historic and scientific sites. Does the Treaty protect private enterprise or constrain it? Can companies secure investment without traditional property rights? Who gets priority when two operators want the same location? Can contracts, insurance, technical standards and private arbitration fill the gaps, or will governments inevitably step in?
This will not be a lecture about what lawyers think the Treaty means. Participants will determine what the Treaty must mean if people are actually going to live, work and do business on the Moon, then identify the practical steps needed to build rules that facilitate investment, commercial growth and human settlement without importing unnecessary terrestrial bureaucracy. The precedents established on the Moon will not remain there. They will influence how humanity approaches resources, property, commerce and settlement on Mars, asteroids and throughout the solar system. You may not care about the Outer Space Treaty. But the future space economy will be built within the legal framework it created.
Workshop C Earth, Moon, and Mars Logistics â–Ľ
With NASA returning to the Moon via the Artemis program--this time with plans to stay--now's the time to iron out how we plan to move mass efficiently around the solar system to support these and other human space settlement activities. We'll focus on the supply chains, resource management, and orbital transit networks required to sustain human presence across cislunar and interplanetary space. In this two-hour collaborative workshop, we will map out the critical infrastructure, risks, and technical gaps preventing us from bridging these three celestial bodies. Through rapid brainstorming sessions and structured group debates, we will analyze current capabilities and future friction points. Ultimately, we will co-create and deliver to the assembled Space Settlement Summit three core architectural findings and three high-impact recommendations for immediate action by 2028.
Exolith Lab® ▼
Located in Orlando, Florida, the Exolith Lab is a space hardware testing and regolith research facility managed by the Florida Space Institute. The Exolith Lab develops and characterizes Lunar, Martian, and asteroid regolith (soil) simulants. The Exolith Lab works with NASA while also performing its own ISRU research led by Dr. Dan Britt.
The Exolith Lab enables space exploration, science, and education by making high-fidelity regolith simulants available to researchers and students around the globe.