The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has introduced an implementation plan aimed at achieving the goals outlined in a national strategy that seeks to advance the development of in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing capabilities. It has been framed as an execution process for an ISAM goal outline that was issued in April.
The ISAM National Strategy has six strategic goals to promote ISAM capability development, the first three of which are advancing research and development related to ISAM, prioritizing the expansion of scalable infrastructure and accelerating the emerging ISAM commercial industry, the White House said Friday.
Promoting international collaboration and cooperation, fostering environmental sustainability and inspiring the future space workforce constitute the remaining three goals.
To support ISAM research and development, the document calls for the development of an ISAM test or demonstration capability for specific ISAM technologies and maintaining a repository of available ISAM capabilities, existing facilities, gaps and ongoing activities and relaying the information to regulatory agencies and mission developers.
When it comes to the expansion of scalable ISAM infrastructure, the implementation plan suggests specific actions such as working with industry, academia and organizations to develop standards for ISAM technologies and identifying gaps within U.S. government space infrastructure and ground test facilities and developing a plan to address those gaps.
Stakeholders from industry, government, academia and nonprofit organizations were consulted to inform the development of the implementation plan.
