11/15/2025

Government and military readers: Get up to 50% off SpaceNews reporting and analysis when you subscribe today with your .gov, .mil or equivalent email address. Get access now.

By Dan Robitzski

Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community.

A U.S. partnership model for the Middle East

This week, we open with a roadmap for how the United States can broaden its presence in the Middle East, specifically securing national interests by brokering partnerships in space with middle eastern countries before China does.

As Mathew Montiel wrote in a recent article, "The Middle East is no longer asking whether it should develop domestic space capabilities; it's deciding with whom it will develop them. If the United States wants to be the country of choice ahead of China, it must create a joint space partnership agreement framework to align American and partner nations' industry, government and financial goals."

Montiel, a researcher at the American Foreign Policy Council, wrote that the U.S.'s partnership with the United Arab Emirates can serve as a replicable model for broader collaboration with the region.

As he put it, "A joint space partnership agreement framework is a repeatable template that can shift U.S. space cooperation in the Middle East from one-off deals and memoranda to a scalable diplomacy tool that strengthens U.S./Middle East relations and bolsters the U.S. space industry."

You can see the rest of Montiel's argument here.

The case for a southern launch corridor: Yuma's role in the future of spaceflight

It's time to expand American access to space by building a spaceport in Yuma, Arizona, Space Force Association Western Region Vice President Brent Page argued. The Yuma Spaceport, Page wrote, would help address the skyrocketing demand for smallsat deployment with dedicated infrastructure for smaller class spacecraft, which requires less investment than larger facilities such as Cape Canaveral.

To make the Yuma Spaceport a reality, Page wrote, "Private-sector aerospace companies should be brought in early as strategic partners, ensuring infrastructure aligns with industry needs. A phased roadmap should guide development, starting with land acquisition, environmental assessments and FAA licensing, followed by core infrastructure construction and future expansion into research and manufacturing capabilities. Simultaneously, stakeholder engagement is critical. Residents, officials, universities and the aerospace industry must collaborate to ensure community needs, workforce development and business interests are addressed."

You can see the rest of the article here.

Illustration of a Martian outpost. Credit: NASA/JPL

The fallacy of being first — let's be enduring instead

Racing to the moon and Mars doesn't mean much if all you do is plant a flag and head home. So instead of racing to leave some bootprints on the lunar and Martian surface before China, NASA should instead focus on a less flashy goal: building the infrastructure that would allow for an enduring presence on other worlds, argued Gennaro J (Rocky) Avvento, an author who studies the market opportunities in space.

He pointed to new markets and business opportunities that would support the logistics of a sustained human presence on the moon and Mars, arguing that NASA can help de-risk the private sector involvement necessary to build such infrastructure out.

"Without sustained logistics, permanent presence on the moon or Mars is impractical," Avvento wrote. "With it, we open the door to lasting habitation, industrial activity and new markets."

Read the rest of the article here.

SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community's diverse perspectives. Whether you're an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion@spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. The perspectives shared in these opinion articles are solely those of the authors.

FROM SPACENEWS

Ensure your team has the best chance at success: Set up a SpaceNews subscription for your entire organization today. An annual digital all-access group subscription starts at $180 per user for as few as two seats, and you can unlock greater discounts with higher volume. Government, academic and other non-profit organizations save at least 50%. Learn more.

📨 Don't miss what's next. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters:

NEW Europe Report: Tracking the policy landscape, investment climate and regional priorities driving Europe's space ambitions.

First Up: Every weekday morning, Jeff Foust delivers the day's most important industry headlines.

Military Space: Veteran defense journalist Sandra Erwin with weekly news and insights for the military space professional.

China Report: Biweekly news and analysis from correspondent Andrew Jones on business, politics and technology in the Chinese space industry.

SpaceNext AI: Exploring the intersection of space and artificial intelligence.

SpaceNews Mission Brief: Golden Dome: Explaining the Golden Dome initiative and what it means for the space industry.

Marketing Minute: Covering PR, marketing and advertising trends for industry communications leaders.

Editor's Choice: Our most important recent stories you may have missed, with background and insights from editors, reporters and contributors.

SpaceNews This Week: The week's top headlines and our conference coverage.

Subscribe to SpaceNews

This email has been sent to generalastronomy110.stnirp@blogger.com because you previously opted in to receive newsletters from SpaceNews. Unsubscribe here. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters.