The Engineering Space Policy Laboratory (ESPL) at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to engineering a more coordinated, sustainable, and secure outer space domain.
Housed jointly in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, ESPL researchers study how space actors — from start-ups to superpowers — behave in an increasingly congested space environment.
As a policy-impact laboratory, ESPL develops research products that inform space mission decision-making at the operator, state, and international levels.
Led by Prof. Thomas González Roberts, ESPL complements Georgia Tech's world-class programming in both space systems engineering and outer space affairs as it prepares students to become leaders across the international space community.
At the Engineering Space Policy Laboratory (ESPL), we model the near-Earth space environment to contribute to world order in outer space. Using tools from observational astronomy and computational astrodynamics, we study the behavior of Earth-orbiting satellites to understand how space actors—from superpowers to start-ups—engage with systems of outer space governance. As the satellite population grows by orders of magnitude in the coming decades, our work seeks to enable data-driven rule-making that promotes coordinated, sustainable, and secure operations for generations to come.
Research at ESPL spans a diverse range of topics across its three themes: international coordination, sustainability, and security in space. From algorithmic assessments of rule-breaking in space to machine learning for pattern-of-life detection, our work leverages insights from spaceflight heritage and space policy history to advance responsible behavior in orbit. Together, our research products touch on topics as varied as space traffic coordination, rendezvous and proximity operations, orbital debris mitigation, the use of AI for space mission operations, telecommunications regulation, and space-based missile defense.
| 🌐 Space Coordination | ♻️ Space Sustainability | 🔒 Space Security |
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| Studying how space actors coordinate behavior and develop international norms to manage an increasingly congested orbital environment | Investigating orbital debris mitigation, long-term stewardship of orbital regimes, and data-driven approaches to sustainable spaceflight | Examining how states and commercial actors respond to threats in the space domain, including space-based missile defense and dual-use technology |
ESPL brings together researchers from aerospace engineering, international affairs, political science, and related disciplines to tackle today's most pressing space policy challenges.
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Engineering a more coordinated, sustainable, and secure outer space domain.
