Join peers, speakers and industry leaders for relaxed pre-event networking drinks the evening before the conference begins. This informal meet-up is designed to help you warm up your network, break the ice, and start meaningful conversations before the main agenda gets underway.

Kick off the day by collecting your badge and enjoying a selection of breakfast refreshments while networking with fellow attendees. First time to DC? Join our first-timer welcome session!

Join an opening address from our event chair.

• Participate in a high-level debrief on how the new Congressional landscape will realign 2027 space budgets between civil exploration and urgent national security needs.
• Debate the post-midterm realignment and its impact on the administration’s space agenda, focusing on the programs shielded by the new Congressional makeup and those vulnerable to the 2027 fiscal cycle
• Contribute to a live, digital "Fear & Opportunity" map to identify the most significant regulatory surprises of 2026 and how they will dictate the 2027 commercial strategy.

This interview will be moderated by a Reuters journalist under the Reuters Trust Principles

This interview will be moderated by a Reuters journalist under the Reuters Trust Principles

Speakers:
Jason Kim, CEO, Firefly Aerospace
Joey Roulette, Space Correspondent, Reuters

Grab your coffee, head to our networking zones, and make the most of this dedicated time to make peer-to-peer connections.
Schedule one-to-one meetings via the event app, check out live demos from our partners, or join an expo tour to hear from some of our key exhibitors across our main expo categories.

Live Demos

Networking Zone specialist meet up for government leaders

Join this exclusive huddle for senior executives to align on the 2026 midterm results and identify which space programs are now protected versus those facing new budget impacts.

• Navigate the first 24 hours and respond to the definitive discovery of life beyond Earth by managing the immediate breakdown of global orbital protocols.
• Deploy strategies to control the narrative and prevent market volatility and ensure that the discovery of the millennium doesn't trigger a terrestrial crisis.
• Stress test the reality of inter-agency speed under extreme pressure, coordinating between government and private entities to solve the crisis before mission failure.

• Evaluate how rapid-fire software patches can defend dual-use constellations against electronic warfare and cyber-spoofing in ways that hardware-heavy systems cannot.
• Define the requirement for an open-architecture software standard that allows commercial startups to ""plug and play"" their apps into existing government-controlled orbital platforms.
• Establish a framework for ""Verified Autonomy,"" ensuring that dual-use AI can be trusted to make split-second operational decisions without constant human-in-the-loop oversight from ground crews.

Speaker: Bridgit Mendler, CEO, Northwood Space
Moderator: Novaspace

• Confront the tension between new regional laws like the EU Space Act and the industry's need for a frictionless, borderless orbital economy.
• Assess whether the rise of domestic space policies creates essential safety guardrails or simply acts as a protectionist barrier to global entry

• Define what responsible orbital citizenship looks like in a crowded sky and how the private sector can lead on sustainability before regulation stifles growth.

Speakers:

James Mason, Chief Space Officer, Planet
Emile DeRijk, CEO, Swissto12

Pick up your lunch and join a table with your curated peer circle to meet like minded professionals. It's a relaxed, role aligned lunch designed for real conversations, actionable takeaways, and long term connections.

Networking Zone specialist meet up for New Space Defense Tech Start Ups

 Step into a highly engaging, interactive environment led by an industry expert to hash out the real-world hurdles of orbital scale, cybersecurity, and defense acquisition.

Interested in leading it? Get in touch with our team to position your brand at the focal point of 2027 budget and policy shifts by hosting this high-value strategy session.

• Align procurement standards between NASA, NOAA, and the Space Force so commercial vendors can bid on "platform-based" contracts that serve multiple government agencies simultaneously.
Navigate the shift to Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) to bypass traditional R&D "valleys of death" and secure contracts faster.
Prioritize 90% capability today over 100% in the distant future, establishing rapid deployment as a core mission requirement for both scientific exploration and national security

• Deploy onboard AI to give Golden Dome satellites the autonomy to detect and kill cyber threats instantly without waiting for ground instructions.
• Bridge the gap between manufacturers and operators to ensure there are no single points of failure in the missile shield’s data links.
• Establish space-ready patching and incident response rules that keep the shield operational during a live attack.

Speakers:

El Gardner, National Security Space Principal, L3Harris
Megan Tremer, President, Teledyne Space Imaging 

• Establish a universal baseline for laser transceivers to ensure satellites from different vendors can talk to each other without specialized hardware.
• Integrate LEO, MEO, and GEO satellites into a single mesh network to eliminate data delays and unlock 6-terabit global capacity.
• Solve the weather and tracking issues that plague laser links by developing hybrid protocols that automatically switch paths to keep the data flowing.

• Discuss the transition from experimental prototypes to full-rate production of the space-based sensor layer. How do we scale from a handful of test satellites to a persistent ""Golden Dome"" that eliminates the ""horizon gap"" exploited by hypersonic glide vehicles?
• Analyze the move away from linear sensor-to-shooter links toward an AI-driven, multi-orbit mesh. How can commercial data streams be fused with military fire-control in milliseconds to intercept maneuvering threats that outpace traditional radar?
• Looking to the 2028 deadline, how are we solving the ""discriminating"" challenge - distinguishing lethal warheads from complex decoys in real time - to ensure the shield is effective against peer-adversary saturation attacks?

Take a break from the debates to grab a coffee and explore the Tech Showcase, where the stilted expo floor is replaced by hands-on looks at the hardware and code defining the software-first satellite era.

Networking Zone specialist meet up for commercial leaders 

An exclusive session for our board to identify 2027’s most disruptive topics, ensuring we remain the definitive knowledge-sharing engine for senior leaders across industry, investment, and government.

• Define the technical requirements for interoperable fission and solar power systems that can serve multiple commercial and government tenants at the South Pole basecamp.
• Execute a common docking and offloading interface to ensure that hardware from different vendors can be serviced by a single, unified lunar logistics network.
• Identify the specific commercial triggers such as ""In-Situ Resource Utilization"" (ISRU) contracts that will move lunar industry from government-funded experiments to self-sustaining private ventures.

Speaker: Paul Tilghman, CTO, Voyager Technologies

• Analyze the transition from ISS experiments to autonomous commercial factories for pharma, focusing on microgravity-stabilized drug delivery.
• Rank the commercial viability of non-pharma outputs, specifically focusing on ZBLAN fiber and radiation-hardened semiconductors for the 2027 supply chain.
• Propose a shared-cost model for return logistics, ensuring that getting precious cargo back to Earth doesn't consume the manufacturing margin.

Speaker:
John Cirtain, CEO, Axiom Space

• Confront the legal grey zone of what happens to private satellites and their operators when commercial assets are used in sovereign defense missions or grey-zone conflicts.
• Determine the fair price of risk: how much should government compensate or insure commercial partners for loss in a contested orbit?
• Explore whether a universal code of conduct is achievable by 2028 or if private operators must act as active participants in sovereign defense.

Speaker: Charles Cynamon, President, Telesat Government Solutions 

• Why is the industry still tethered to the 60-year-old model of disposable satellites? We evaluate the engineering, insurance, and cultural hurdles preventing on-orbit refueling from becoming the mandatory industry standard by 2027.
• Is "Launch and Leave" actually the most cost-effective path for mega-constellations, or is life-extension the only way to protect long-term ROI? We break down the math on whether a "service call" is a smart strategic move or a financial money pit compared to a fresh launch
• Can the industry agree on a universal "gas cap" for satellites, or will the "Launch and Leave" mentality be replaced by proprietary repair services that lock operators into a single vendor's ecosystem?

 After a jam-packed Day 1, keep the momentum going at our SpaceSatsDC networking party! Join us for an opportunity to unwind and spark new partnerships in a vibrant, social setting. Don’t miss the buzz—this is where the real networking happens!

 Move from the boardroom to an intimate, curated dinner designed for high-level strategy and long-term connections with a select group of the industry's most influential figures. 

Start the day right with a 5k run alongside like-minded peers. Explore the areas at your own pace and build camaraderie with the other participants in a relaxed and run environment.

We can't wait for our very first Women in Space breakfast in 2026! This is a ground-breaking and dynamic forum open to all attendees to share ideas, trends and experiences to create momentum within the women in space community.

Host; Carol Craig, CEO, Sidus Space

Arrive refreshed and ready to go for a high-action Day 2—grab a coffee, catch up with peers, and ensure you're in your seat on time for the morning’s first mission-critical debates.

• Move from satellites as solo processors to fleet-level distributed architectures for storage and computing.
• Plan for a future where satellites deliver final intelligence outputs (not raw data), reducing reliance on massive ground stations.
• Vote: essential backbone of the new economy—or an expensive trap?

Jonny Dyer, CEO, Muon Space
Chad Anderson, CEO, Space Capital
Moderator: Dave Cavossa, CEO, CSF

• How edge computing turns EO from passive collection into real-time autonomous intelligence.
• Technical + AI/ML requirements for ""Insight-as-a-Service"" delivered directly from orbit.
• Barriers: bandwidth scarcity, latency constraints, and scaling to a profitable SaaS model.

• Analyze the impact of recent legislative exclusions on military-use spectrum and develop strategies for ground station resilience to maintain clean frequencies for both defense and commercial broadband missions.
• Address the escalating threats of GPS jamming and spoofing to defense and commercial aviation while exploring cutting-edge downlink protection engineering for national security.
• Debate the trade-offs between different spectrum management approaches to ensure interference-free communication and practical guidance for ground stations on reusing cellular frequencies in contested domains.

• Tackle the 2026 mandates of the EU Space Act that impose European environmental and debris standards on any US operator serving the EU market.
• Execute a policy roadmap to secure US-EU "Regulatory Equivalence," ensuring US-licensed satellites aren't legally barred from European enterprise and government contracts.
• Discuss how to scale into Allied markets while navigating extraterritorial inspections that could conflict with US ITAR/EAR laws.

Take a break from the debates to grab a coffee and explore the Tech Showcase, where the "lecture hall" is replaced by hands-on looks at the hardware and code defining the software-first satellite era.

Networking Zone specialist meet up for technical leaders across New Space

Sign up to a high-velocity matchmaking designed to bypass the trade show noise and connect senior commercial leads directly with the capital fueling the next phase of orbital scale.

• Identify critical dependencies on Chinese components and execute a transition strategy to trusted, Western-aligned hardware without compromising the speed of 2026 defense missions
• Implement rigorous ""Clean Space"" protocols to shield sensitive commercial research, such as microgravity pharma or semiconductor breakthroughs, from state-sponsored intellectual property theft
• Deploy quantum-resistant encryption across commercial gateways to ensure that dual-use assets remain invisible to adversarial decryption efforts as they transition through contested zones 

• Orbital congestion risk and whether debris removal is viable business or mandatory cost.
• Live poll: should poor de-orbit plans be banned from high-value orbits by 2028?
• Incentives to solve the ""tragedy of the commons"" and keep orbits navigable.

• Move the security conversation from passive firewalls to active resilience where constellations are built to fight through and recover from attacks in real-time.
• Tackle the growing crisis of trust in satellite data by exploring how to verify every packet of information before it ever touches the ground.
• Evaluate the strategic necessity of quantum-resistant security today to prevent the total obsolescence of national assets when decryption tech matures

Michelle Parker, VP Space Systems, Boeing
Asit Tandon, Chief IT & Network Officer, Telesat
CEO, CesiumAstro
Moderator: TBC 

• Establish clear protocols for when a commercial satellite must execute evasive maneuvers to avoid kinetic threats, balancing the cost of fuel depletion against mission survival.
• Negotiate standardized government insurance frameworks to compensate commercial operators for the loss or damage of private assets when they are utilized in sovereign defense operations.
• Stress-test the ability of a commercial fleet to automatically switch to a secure, resilient "Dual-Use" mesh network the moment traditional ground-links are compromised by electronic warfare

• Align on a co-existence protocol that prevents high-power satellite downlinks from interfering with terrestrial 5G towers in dense urban borders.
• Establish the ""Owner of the Subscriber"" hierarchy between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Satellite providers for non-emergency 5G data.
• Stress-test the 2027 link-budget - determining if we can realistically deliver high-speed data to unmodified handsets without massive, unscalable apertures.

Pick up your lunch and join a curated peer circle to hash out the real-world hurdles of orbital scale, cybersecurity, and defense acquisition in a relaxed, role-aligned setting.

Step into a highly engaging, interactive environment led by an industry expert to hash out the real-world hurdles of orbital scale, cybersecurity, and defense acquisition.

Interested in leading it? Get in touch with our team to position your brand at the focal point of 2027 budget and policy shifts by hosting this high-value strategy session.

• Compare launch provider performance and what unblocks mega-constellation cadence.
• Evaluate whether small launch survives heavy-lifter price pressure by offering schedule control.
• Debate ""launch sovereignty"": domestic rockets vs commercial alternatives.

Moderator: Space Policy Group 

• Shift from custom projects to high-rate assembly lines that deliver at scale without losing performance required for current defense missions.
• Build resilience through trade disruption and material constraints to keep production moving.
• Move to a ""Platform-as-a-Service"" model and build repeatable, high-assurance space systems.

• Shift from disposable missions to a circular economy of refueling and repair.
• Microgravity manufacturing scaling toward pharma and semiconductor supply chains.
• Orbital logistics as foundation for a permanent Earth–Moon trade corridor.

Jeff Thunberg, CEO, Portal Space Systems