Saturday, September 12, 2026

Opinions: Why is NASA in the air show business?

Catch up on the perspectives in our latest magazine
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

09/12/2026

READ IN BROWSER

SpaceNews logo
Space News Opinions newsletter logo

By Dan Robitzski


Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community. This week, catch up on some of the columns SpaceNews reporters wrote for our latest magazine issue.


📲  Download the SpaceNews mobile app


Why is NASA in the air show business?


NASA recently announced Max Power, a spectacle-filled event at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) with air shows that the agency is ticketing as a series of "park experiences" and a major industry trade event. SpaceNews' Jeff Foust wrote a column questioning why NASA would bother.


"Max Power might turn out to be a fun event, but it might also be an empty one. It could inspire the next generation of the space workforce, but so could a regular trip to KSC. Brian Hughes, the current director of KSC, said at the Max Power announcement his interest in space was kindled by a trip to the center when he was 3½ years old.


"The agency is involved in a lot more spectacles with greater significance, from exploring the universe to returning humans to the moon. And rocket launches are a lot more fun than an air show."


Read the full SpaceNews article here.

Arctic landscape near the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. Credit:: USACE.

Arctic landscape near the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. Credit: USACE.

The space infrastructure race is moving north


Space and space infrastructure are increasingly important factors in the geopolitical tensions and ambitions regarding an increasingly accessible and valuable Arctic region. In a column this month, SpaceNews' Sandra Erwin dissected global initiatives to build out space-based communications, data architecture and sensing over the Arctic to fill in gaps left by terrestrial systems — systems that are challenged by harsh terrain that makes maintenance difficult.


According to the column, "the security challenges driving investment in the Arctic are not new."


"What is becoming clearer is how much the region’s security architecture could be enhanced with space technology. The Arctic has been a theater of geopolitical competition, but now it is also a place where the strategic value of space infrastructure is unusually easy to see."


Read the full SpaceNews column 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 (at) spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. If you have something to submit, read some of our recent opinion articles and our submission guidelines to get a sense of what we’re looking for. The perspectives shared in these opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent their employers or professional affiliations.

Subscribe to SpaceNews



No comments:

Post a Comment

Opinions: Why is NASA in the air show business?

Catch up on the perspectives in our latest magazine  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ...