 All right. Good morning. So I'm Mark Muzina. I'm the vice president of government affairs at Planet and For the last 10 years, I'll let me start by saying thank you, Audrey. I'll build on her remarks This is I'm glad people clapped at the accomplishment for the moratorium That is quite the accomplishment and it was at light speed. So huge congrats to you and your team For the last 10 years Planet and its co-founders will Marshall and Robbie Schingler have raised concerns about the impact of destructive anti-satellite weapons have had on our healthy space ecosystem. They threaten our Operations in Leo and low earth orbit. They jeopardize astronauts safety and they risk destroying satellites that provide critical services to humanity And they are frankly irresponsible. As a community, we must do more to reduce the threats posed by debris creating events We cannot wait for a major disaster to occur before we act as we know the FAA was created in part due to a Disaster in 1956 in which two airplanes collided over the Grand Canyon that that created that Cabalists created helped create the FAA space does not have this ability to wait for disaster to prompt action As Dr. Kessler forewarned debris creating generating events such as ASATs can cause a runaway cascade of orbital debris Collisions that jeopardize space activities for all actors for generations years decades if not longer I praise the work of this administration in taking the first steps to create a safer space environment with last year's moratorium on direct Ascent debris creating ASATs and on their championing of December's UNG and General Assembly resolution But I urge our community to build on these great first steps to work towards a binding International ban on the use of testing of all kinetic and debris creating ASATs We're living in a new space Renaissance Over the last decade commercial space companies have transformed space sector and extended the economic sphere of influence of near-earth space They provide critical services such as earth observation data that address global issues like climate crisis communications data that provides internet across the planet and Since I work for planet an example of this new space Renaissance is planet planets an 11-year-old company We were in public last year as a public benefit corporation Focused on providing data and services to enable a sustainable and secure planet so we build and operate the largest constellation of earth imaging satellites and By imaging the planet every day with a wide range of customers from Farmers determining the best way to manage their fields disaster management entities preparing for and responding to natural disasters insurance companies scientists studying the health of our planet and AI ML helping in intelligence analysts understand the changing patterns of life that lead to national security concerns and understanding to communities enforcing land use regulations the the use cases go on and on and on All in all these services this imaging from space from planet and other companies is enabling better decision-making Having a constellations of satellites like planet makes us particularly aware of the risks posed by debris-creating events With the increasing number of countries and companies launching satellite constellations Effective and responsible stewardship is even more important Asats are a key risk to our ecosystem and one we want to get out in front of as an international community Protecting the space environment is Of the most utmost importance to humanity short-term and long-term viability in space and requires action across several fronts increasingly international bodies including secure world foundation and Others are calling attention to the long-term future of space as a sustainable environment for operations and recognizing that deliberately and irresponsibly creating space debris negates the collective efforts of hundreds of responsible space actors who work to Recognize the creation of debris as part of their normal operations Commercial companies must be responsible stewards of our space environment and nations must do more to prevent the reckless creation of space debris There's no such thing as responsible kinetic asat Russia's asat test as was mentioned earlier in November of 21 highlights this problem Brought by the act by brought by asat action to date the international community is tracking nearly 2,000 pieces of debris created by it debris that will be up there for years Creating congestion and threatening safe operations in leo for years to come This latest asat test continues an unfortunate trend of 15 years kinetic asat test done by China in 07 the United States in 08 India in 2019 and then Russia most recently in 21 the amount of debris created from these international events rivals the number of satellites in leo today We want to see these actions prohibited Before the risks of these collisions escalates last year's moratorium that Audrey spoke of by the United States Committed the US not to conduct destructive direct ascent anti-satellite missile testing through this statement The US declared a self-imposed moratorium on kinetic asat testing aimed to lead by example and establish a new International norm for responsible behavior in space since then I believe it's 14 countries I think most of which are actually in this room Have issued similar? voluntary moratoriums I Praise this first step. I praise vice president Harris for taking this first step I praise Audrey Schaefer and the National Security Council for that Jessica talk in the Department of Defense Who's in the room? Is it the State Department the Space Council and of course secure world for being the thought leader in this and pushing for it? I also want to highlight as Audrey said the UN resolution that passed. It was quite the accomplishment Again, it is a non binding statement to halt Direct kinetic destructive kinetic aset tests in our space. It was adopted by a huge margin But it is worth pointing out that nine countries voted against it including China and Russia two of the current users of asets who have Demonstrated asets and nine abstentions including India another Recent user of asets so though this is not a legally binding development It reflects the momentum towards a weapons-free outer space specifically for preventing further growth of debris in outer space These are wonderful first steps, but we must do more as a community to work towards a ban on all asets Some have criticized this momentum done by the by the United States and by the United Nations As as being self Indulging given that the United States and Russia have been testing asets since the 1960s including nuclear tests until 1963 And China has tested at least 10 times in the last 20 years So there's this perception that the US moratorium is just to stop development of new asets in other countries But leaves the door open for the US to use Our own our own anti satellites that we've already developed so we must take a stronger leadership position We can push past this criticism by pushing for binding international agreements To ban all debris creating activities and weapons and not just limit the testing of those systems We need to move towards a prohibition and not a voluntary moratorium Working towards an international prohibition with teeth to ban all of all use of kinetic asets is a worthwhile goal Which will help protect space for generations and one that we would encourage community to push for Working with international partners and commercial companies The US international community has an opportunity to foster a safe space environment and protect the critical services that space-based resources provide to humanity I Praise all the efforts over the past year for the US and I look forward to Continuing and building on this momentum We get so much from space that enables life on earth Climate data scientific exploration communication remote sensing all enable our modern lives and enable us to make better decisions about our planet and be Better stewards Protecting the space environment today is of the utmost importance to preserve it for future generations of civil commercial Scientific and national security users as an astrophysicist. I can tell you space is big But usable space around earth is quite limited and fragile. We must protect it building on this work Champion by this administration and by the United Nations We need to move towards an international prohibition on all kinetic debris creating a set tests and weapons in general. Thank you