Not many university presidents double as chairs of a state’s aerospace finance authority, but in that rare case at Florida International University, that unique confluence is forging a bold new role in the governance of outer space. Under the leadership of Jeanette M. Nuñez, FIU is aligning academic research, state-level investment, and national security priorities to address the increasingly complex policy and technology challenges of the space domain.
Nuñez leads FIU but is concurrently chair of the board at Space Florida. The university is thereby a direct player in Florida’s $6 billion-a-year aerospace business, which supports 150,000 jobs and lures in the leading names of NewSpace: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Hence, Space Florida’s charge to expand launch infrastructure, foster private sector facilities, and quicken the pace of recovery operations echoes the federal drive to fast-track the integration of commercial space into national capabilities. For Florida, the economic and strategic stakes are high: the state represents both a launchpad for NewSpace ventures and a critical node in U.S. defense and space-based operations.
The Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy spearheads the work of FIU into the governance and security dimensions of space. Long recognized for its work in national security and cybersecurity, the JGI is extending its remit upward-into orbital regimes and beyond. “Space is not just a scientific frontier,” says Director Brian Fonseca. “It’s a strategic domain where global economic, security and geopolitical interests are converging, and our policies must evolve accordingly.” This evolution is urgent as international frameworks-from the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to the Artemis Accords-struggle to keep up with the rise of private-sector actors and dual-use technologies.
To further build out expertise, JGI has appointed Laura Delgado López as senior fellow. She’s a former policy advisor to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate with more than 15 years of experience in space governance, security, and international collaboration. Her current area of focus-Latin America-is a region whose markets are growing fast, Earth observation capabilities are on the rise, and NewSpace startups are flourishing. This creates a strategic fit with U.S. Southern Command, headquartered in Doral, which looks at space through the lens of regional security and strategic competition. Delgado López is already working on a “space policy dashboard” that will map both public and private actors to identify governance gaps and opportunities for cooperation.
The Latin American space sector faces a set of unique governance challenges. Recent regional analyses have underlined that Brazil, Argentina, and Chile function under different policy regimes in which military and civilian leadership over space programs often intersect, causing fragmented decision-making within governments and further complicating efforts at aligning with international norms and standards. The partnerships operating within this field range from Chinese satellite technology transfers to the signatories of the Artemis Accords led by the U.S.; nuanced ways of engagement beyond great-power rivalry surely exist.
FIU’s research will attempt to provide informed guidance at the level of those strategies for integrating domestic policy constraints into foreign policy imperatives toward consolidated cooperative governance models. The students are embedded in that work. Alexandra Bishop is a senior at FIU’s Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs who works as a junior research analyst at JGI, studying China’s access to space facilities in Argentina and its implications for U.S. national security. “My work at JGI has taught me how to analyze problems impartially and write accurate, thoughtful recommendations that are presented to policymakers,” she says.
This approach reflects workforce development recommendations in national space policy that integrate STEM competence with cross-disciplinary training in law, policy, and strategy to prepare talent for the place where space and terrestrial systems meet. The integration of students and seasoned experts reflects a broader trend in space governance: the need to merge technical acumen with policy insight. As commercial constellations multiply and orbits grow increasingly congested, governance is going to depend on coordinated standards, shared situational awareness, and ways to manage dual-use risks.
Technical standards from organizations such as the CCSDS and ISO already serve as a form of “soft law,” but their implementation is spotty across Latin America. Initiatives hatched at FIU could help bridge that gap and foster interoperability and transparency between regional and global players. Situating space governance squarely within Florida’s economic and security architecture, FIU is positioning itself-and the state-to be a strategic hub in the development of rules, partnerships, and capabilities that define humanity’s expansion into space. The work underlines the fact that from the launch pads of Cape Canaveral to policy dashboards mapping Latin America’s orbital assets, the next frontier will be as much about governance and security as it is about rockets and satellites.
