The Second Space Race: Why National Security Starts in Orbit

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How is space is shaping our future, and are we ready for it?

In this episode of GNSI’s At the Boundary, host Jim Cardoso is joined by NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and space industry leader Chris Stott for a conversation that redefines what space really means for life on Earth, and why it matters now more than ever.

From GPS and global communications to climate monitoring and data security, space quietly powers the modern world. Drawing on Nicole Stott’s time aboard the International Space Station, and Chris Stott’s work building off-world data infrastructure, the discussion reveals how space has become essential to national security, economic resilience, and everyday life.

The episode explores the Moon as the next strategic frontier, the role of international cooperation in keeping space stable and secure, and how new commercial ventures, from lunar data centers to space-based solar power, could reshape global competition and resource access.

Along the way, Stott and Stott challenge the idea of space as a distant or scarce domain, offering a compelling vision of space as a source of opportunity, collaboration, and long-term abundance.

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At the Boundary from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida, features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.

A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus.

The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.

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