Space policy and politics in Latin America: Revisiting the multiple board games

Join us for a virtual lecture that builds on an earlier study of Sino-Latin American space collaboration to highlight the intricate dynamics of domestic and international policies shaping this partnership. This lecture extend to the presenter’s latest research, the result of a nearly year-long project, which casts a wider net on the international engagement strategies of key Latin American nations, notably Chile and Brazil. The discussion will examine these activities within the context of domestic and foreign policy imperatives, unraveling the complexities that drive and restrain the space-related ambitions of these countries. 

Laura Delgado López is a visiting fellow with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she researches and writes on international space cooperation in Latin America. Her tenure at CSIS is funded by a 2023–2024 Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. She has worked in space policy in the Washington, D.C., area for nearly 15 years. Her research has focused on space politics and policy with a focus on emerging space programs, international cooperation, and public opinion, and has been featured in peer-reviewed and trade publications, such as Space News. She is currently on leave from NASA, where she has been a senior policy analyst since 2018 at the Science Mission Directorate’s Policy Branch, which provides policy support to the science leadership of the agency. Prior to NASA, she was an advocacy lead at Harris Corporation’s Space and Intelligence Systems Segment, a project manager at the Secure World Foundation (SWF), the Earth Observations Associate at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, and a correspondent for SpacePolicyOnline.com. Ms. Delgado López is a former editor-in-chief of Elsevier’s Space Policy journal, the premier peer-reviewed publication for the interdisciplinary study of space policy, and serves on the SWF Advisory Committee. She is a native Spanish speaker and fluent in English. She holds an MA in international science and technology policy with a focus on space policy from George Washington University and a BA in political science from the University of Puerto Rico.

Registration will close two hours before the event begins.