Our Fragile Space: Protecting the Near-Space Environment

The Space Policy Institute and Secure World Foundation are pleased to invite you to the opening of Max Alexander's photographic exhibition:

Our Fragile Space: Protecting the Near-Space Environment

The event will begin in the Elliott School's Harry Harding Auditorium and will feature a fireside chat with space photographer and science communicator Max Alexander. A reception will follow in the exhibition space outside the auditorium.

Places are limited so please be confident you can attend prior to registering. We also kindly ask that you cancel your reservation if, after registering, you're no longer able to attend.

About the Event:

• 5:30pm | Welcome and Opening Remarks, Space Policy Institute Director, Scott Pace
• 5:40pm | Artist's Remarks, Photographer Max Alexander
• 6:00pm | Fireside Chat, Featuring Max Alexander, Moderated by Director of Space Applications Programs at Secure World Foundation Krystal Azelton
• 6:30pm | Closing Remarks and Invitation to the Reception and Exhibition, Space Policy Institute Director, Scott Pace
• 6:35pm-8pm | Reception | Exhibition Space, 2nd Floor Atrium, Elliott School of International Affairs

About the Exhibition:

Our Fragile Space comes to GW's Elliott School after several successful showings, including at Lloyds of London and the United Nations in Vienna.

Award winning journalist and author Dr. Stuart Clark provides an introduction to the exhibition:

For most of human history, space has been a remote realm, unreachable andmysterious. Earlier generations filled it with their various hopes, dreams andfears, all born in the inner reaches of the human psyche. Then in 1957, thingschanged. The former Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, and we began fillingspace with actual pieces of hardware.

We have now transformed the orbital space around Earth into a technologicalbridgehead. In the process, we have proven the societal and scientific benefitsof using this environment. With the tumbling cost of satellites and launches,more and more companies are thinking of how to use space. No longer canwe consider it ‘outer space’. It has become ‘near space’, part of the Earth’senvironment, inextricably linked to our way of life and the functioning ofsociety. Instead of a frontier to be tamed, the near-space environment is oneover which we must now exercise stewardship. As the problem of space debrisincreases, along with the sky becoming progressively crowded and lightpolluted, our new role is to ensure that space is used sustainably. This meansguaranteeing the benefits remain available to future generations and also topreserve the night sky for humanity.

To tell this story, Max Alexander travelled to the top of volcanoes in the Pacificand Atlantic Oceans, clean rooms across Europe, mega-constellation launcheson both coasts of the United States, and a farm in England. He also went on ajourney through the space sector: government, space agencies, the military,regulation, insurance markets, academia, astronomy, and space sustainabilityenterprises. Through a series of reportage photographs and portraiture, hedocuments the benefits of using space, the cost to the near-space environment,and the beginnings of our stewardship. After seeing these images, ourrelationship with near space will never be the same again.

About the Artist:

An international photographer and creative strategist, Max Alexander specialises in science communication through visual storytelling. He works for a large number of prestigious organisations around the world including the UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, European Southern Observatory, UK research councils, book publishers and magazines. He has photographed Nobel Prize winners, astronauts and world leaders. Max has had two science-led exhibitions at the Royal Albert Hall in London: Explorers of the Universe and Illuminating Atoms. His passion for understanding the universe and making it meaningful to others has motivated him to work in this arena – and he is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

You can find out more about Max’s work by visiting his website.