Getting to space is hard. Staying there may be harder.
That was one of the main takeaways from the University’s 2026 Space Education and Strategic Applications (SESA) conference, held online during September 17-18.
Over two days, astronauts, scientists, educators, students, and other professionals tackled everything from lunar construction and astronaut mental health to artificial intelligence, space law, solar storms, and black holes.
“The future of space exploration depends on collaboration across disciplines,” says Dr. Kristen Miller, a space studies professor at the University and one of the organizers of SESA 2026.
SESA 2026 made the point repeatedly that collaboration will be key. The topics and discussions of this conference were broad and intriguing. However, the same questions kept resurfacing:
- What infrastructure will people need on the Moon?
- How do you design a habitat that protects astronauts without making them miserable?
- What happens when commercial space technology moves faster than the law?
- How much autonomy should we trust to artificial intelligence?
- If humans are serious about traveling farther from Earth, how much better do we need to become at predicting what the Sun will throw at us?
From Low Earth Orbit to Mars
The first keynote speaker, Dr. Bonnie J. Dunbar, opened the SESA 2026 conference from a vantage point few people can match.
Dr. Dunbar is a retired astronaut who flew five space missions for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA®). Before that, she worked on the Space Shuttle Columbia’s thermal protection system.
During a 27-year career, Dr. Dunbar also served in leadership roles involving flight crews, International Space Station operations, university research and life and microgravity sciences. Today, she is a professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University.
Her keynote speech was an “orbital view of the future,” moving quickly across the history of human spaceflight, spacecraft design, and future requirements as space exploration pushes beyond low Earth orbit.
Her point was that humans want to go farther, but going farther changes almost everything.
According to Dr. Dunbar, a spacecraft is not the problem – neither is a lunar base, a Mars habitat, or a robotic surface vehicle. It is not really a problem – it’s more of a challenge. Human performance, mission operations, engineering, infrastructure, and science all have to work together. That’s the challenge.
Dunbar also discussed something less futuristic: memory.
Apollo and the Space Shuttle program produced decades of hard-earned knowledge. As one generation of engineers and astronauts gives way to another, preserving those lessons matters.
“If we’re not careful, we can lose those lessons learned,” Dr. Dunbar said.
That’s probably among the least glamorous challenges of the next era of space exploration, but it is still very important. Future missions will depend on new technologies and on remembering what previous generations already discovered the hard way.
Building a Place to Live in Space
There is something slightly surreal about hearing people discuss lunar dirt as infrastructure. At SESA 2026, though, regolith was serious business.
During “Lunar Analog Environments and Operational Infrastructure,” a panel of experts looked at the facilities and simulations being used on Earth to prepare for work on the Moon. The conversation moved through robotic testing, digital twins, shared data models, and space-resource experiments, with an emphasis on making research more repeatable and useful when real surface operations begin.
Another panel, “Lunar & Economic Sustainability in the New Era of Space Exploration,” went beyond engineering. The presenters examined resource use, environmental stewardship, data standards, and the legal questions that could arise as more governments and private companies arrive on the Moon.
In “The Lunar Tragedy of the Commons,” the presentation looked at what could happen if different groups compete for the Moon’s resources and end up damaging areas that others may also depend on.
Mars raised a different set of problems. During “Designing Human-Centered Habitats for Mars,” the conversation ranged from radiation and Martian soil to architecture, medicine, and behavioral resilience.
The challenge is to design a habitat made to keep out a very close, very large and deadly environment. It also has to keep the people inside functioning and healthy.
That means accounting for a lot of factors, including:
- Isolation
- Privacy
- Interpersonal stress
- The psychological effects of living for long periods in an artificial environment millions of miles from home
“Human Health in Extreme Environments” continued that conversation through presentations on psychological safety, telemedicine, and behavioral health in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.
Some of the hardest problems in deep-space exploration may have nothing to do with propulsion.
SESA 2026 Noted That the Rules Are Getting Complicated for Space Law
Space law began in a very different era. When the major international space treaties were written, national governments dominated all activity to go beyond Earth. There were no modern commercial launch markets, satellite mega-constellations, or private companies like SpaceX® or Blue Origin® seriously discussing the lunar industry.
The second keynote speaker, Franceska Schroeder, explored that gap in her Day One closing discussion, “Is Space Law Meeting the Needs of Operators? Past, Present, & Future.”
Schroeder, a managing member of Schroeder Law PLLC in Washington, D.C., works on spacecraft and launch regulation, contracts, liability, and policy. Her keynote presentation traced space law from its early international foundations into the far messier environment operators face today.
The list of players in the space industry has grown. Satellite manufacturers, launch providers, software companies, defense contractors, insurers, and investors now operate alongside governments and international organizations. A spacecraft may be commercial infrastructure, national-security infrastructure, or both.
Other panels contributed to what is happening in the space industry. “Beyond Launch: Governing Security and Sovereignty in the Commercial Space Age” examined commercial satellite internet, digital sovereignty and continuity of service. “A New Space Order: The Changing Architecture for Space Diplomacy” looked at smaller alliances, contracts, and other arrangements shaping international cooperation. “The New Space Economy: Business Beyond Earth” asked what an actual cislunar economy might require for humans to survive.
Now, the Moon is not only a destination. It is a governance problem, a marketplace, and potentially a workplace.
Trouble in Orbit and on the Sun
“The New Space Battlefield: Commanding the Higher Ground and Contested Orbits: Space Security at a Crossroads” examined threats ranging from GPS and cyberattacks to military operations and the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in maintaining space security.
The stakes extend well beyond low-earth orbit. Satellites support navigation, communications, emergency response, national security and other systems people rely on every day. A disruption that occurs hundreds or thousands of miles above Earth can have consequences on the ground.
There is also the Sun to be considered. Nathan Miles, a software engineer with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder and a member of NOAA’s SWFO-L1 Development Team, opened Day Two with his keynote address, “SOLAR-1: A New Paradigm for Space Weather Operations and Forecasting.”
Space weather can disrupt communications and navigation, damage satellites, and expose astronauts to radiation. Those risks become more serious as crews move beyond low Earth orbit.
Miles discussed a new generation of instruments intended to improve the speed and quality of space-weather observations. Operating near the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point, roughly a million miles from Earth in the direction of the Sun, SOLAR-1 can help provide low-latency observations of incoming space weather conditions. SOLAR-1 is the first dedicated operational space weather satellite, created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration® (NOAA®).
For an astronaut traveling to the Moon, a better solar forecast is not trivia. It could be a warning to take seriously.
AI, Students and What Comes Next in Space
Artificial intelligence surfaced throughout SESA 2026 as a research tool and as a strategic risk.
“Algorithms in Orbit: From Ethics to Discovery” explored AI in scientific research, autonomous operations, and data analysis. Machine learning systems can sift through enormous datasets and assist with decisions in environments where information is incomplete and communication with Earth may be delayed.
That ability is useful, but it could also create some uncomfortable situations.
If a spacecraft’s system must make a decision before a human operator can respond, how much authority should the software have? Who is accountable when an autonomous system makes the wrong call? The farther spacecraft travel from Earth, the more independence they may need.
Some of the most important work at SESA 2026, however, was done across both days.
Students from around the country presented research through poster sessions, including students from the University. That mattered because the conference spent so much time discussing problems that will outlast many of the people currently working on them.
The SESA 2026 conference also highlighted the University’s upcoming space human factors concentration for the master’s in space studies. This future concentration will focus on various areas including:
- Psychology
- Engineering
- Human performance
- Systems design
The future space workforce may not fit comfortably inside old professional silos. An engineer may need to understand psychology. A policy professional may need to understand satellite systems. A mission planner may need fluency in medicine, AI, security, or international law.
Amid two days of regolith, solar storms and radiation exposure, there was still room for the reason many people became interested in space in the first place.
“The Search for Life in the Universe” returned to the question of whether anything else is out there. “Eclipsing the Cosmos: Stardust to Shadows” moved from black holes and planetary systems to the Sun-Earth relationship.
On Thursday night, the SESA 2026 conference ended with a virtual Star Party, hosted by the University’s Supernova Research Group. This party offered a change of pace from the conference’s more technical and policy-focused conversations.
For all the machinery, policy, and risk now attached to modern space exploration, humans are still doing something they have always done: looking up.
Getting into space may begin with a launch. Staying there will take nearly everything else.
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration® and NOAA® are registered trademarks of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
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