NSS Policy Process

There are two kinds of NSS Positions on Legislative Matters:

  1. Statements, including press releases, position papers, and open letters that are approved by the NSS Policy Committee.

  2. Statements, oral or in writing, provided by the Chair of the NSS Policy Committee, who is empowered via the Bylaws of NSS to speak on behalf of NSS on Legislative matters.

Pretty much everything except what is listed just above, including:

  • Statements by NSS BOD members
  • Statements or positions from NSS Chapters or the Chapters Assembly
  • Statements by individual NSS members
  • Statements by NSS employees or contractors
  • Statements by NSS officers who are not the Chair of the NSS Policy Committee

Statements by the Chair of the Policy Committee provided with a disclaimer that they are not official NSS positions

There are three places/methods of finding NSS positions:

  1. The NSS policy paper page where you will find a list of official position papers. These papers are the official voice of NSS on legislative matters.
  2. The list of NSS press releases.  Statements found in NSS press releases can also be viewed as NSS positions.
  3. You can email the Chair of the NSS Policy Committee Chair. The name of the current Chair can be found here. Their NSS email is [email protected].

The page describing the NSS policy leadership team also describes the NSS policy process. See:
https://space.nss.org/nss-policy-leadership-team/

  1. Defending Earth
  2. Clean Energy from Space
  3. Developing Space
  4. Communities in Space
  1. Planetary Defense
  2. Space Solar Power
  3. Cislunar Space Development
  4. Space Settlements

The strategic focus areas should be viewed as refinements of the goals coupled to 5 and 10 year objectives. The goals are a high-level encapsulation of the NSS vision and mission. For example, “Developing Space” is a broad goal, but “Cislunar space development” is a near term strategic focus. Each strategic focus area has an associated strategy with objectives that can be found here.

  1. Making humanity a multi-planet species benefits all by helping ensure our survival.
  2. Carbon free baseload space solar power has the potential to alleviate climate change with less environmental impact than other sources of baseload power.
  3. The technology for mining asteroids helps protect Earth by enabling planetary defense. It also benefits Earth by replacing environmentally damaging mining on the Earth, including on the ocean floor.
  4. Building a profitable cislunar economy will set a foundation for further exploration and settlement of the Solar System, while providing good jobs in a high paying industry.
  1. Meeting with members of Congress
  2. Writing and reviewing legislation
  3. Collaborating with industry stakeholders
  4. Working with our partners in the Alliance for Space Development
  5. Working with other space groups such as the Planetary Society on common issues such as Planetary Defense.
  6. NSS members making phone calls, sending emails, and joining Congressional education events in DC.

There are various items on the NSS web page that should be considered official positions of NSS apart from the position papers.  For example, the NSS Space Settlement Roadmap is an example of an official NSS document found on the NSS web site.