During the luncheon keynote address, Jinni Meehan, assistant director for space policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, underscored the critical role of the expanding low Earth orbit (LEO) economy in sustaining U.S. leadership in space. In 2023, the the Biden-Harris Administration released the National Low Earth Orbit Research and Development Strategy. In her address, Meehan said, “This plan demonstrates the United States is committed to advancing research in LEO by leveraging the nation’s commercial enterprise to develop the infrastructure needed to grow the space economy.” She went on to say that the administration “encourages the use of LEO as a unique environment to address global challenges in science, medicine, manufacturing, communications, agriculture, and national security.”