Research Outcomes

Central to our research project is the goal of reaching a variety of audiences. This includes members of key constituency groups who have contributed their perspectives to our work, community members who live and work in Lompoc and other nearby towns and cities on the central coast, local elected government officials and policy makers, and students and researchers interested in the topics of media infrastructure, satellites, and rocket launches.

Given this goal, the results of our research have and will continue to take a wide range of forms. Below are select examples of early research outcomes, which thus far have included presentations of preliminary findings and community-oriented events. We will continue to update this page as we move into the next phase of our project to include academic journal articles, policy recommendations, a documentary film, and other media related to the project.

● Community-based Science and Technology Research

Community Presentations and Workshops

  • Lompoc Community Presentation (February 20, 2026)

    The Satellite Coast Research Project invited research participants and their friends and colleagues to the Alpha Club to hear preliminary findings from each case study. A robust dialogue followed, where community members provided feedback and insights generated by the presentation.

  • Lompoc Community Drawing Workshop (May 23, 2026)

    In this free and public drawing workshop, participants were invited to explore their experiences of Lompoc, the Vandenberg Air/Space Force Base, and rocket launches through a series of guided drawing exercises. Together, we will experiment with different ways to communicate space, scale, connectivity, sound, and vibration through drawing techniques.

Publications

  • Check back here in Spring 2027 for updates on publications!

Community Advocacy Work

  • Check back here soon for updates on our community advocacy work

Conference Presentations

  • Panel: Orbital TechnoPower: SpaceX, Launch Infrastructure, and Community Contestations in the New Space Era, 4S Conference, Toronto, Oct. 7-11, 2026

  • Tara Plath and Sophia Abbey, The Titan Explosion: Memories of Launch Failures, and Contested Risk Paradigms in Lompoc, California 

  • Lisa Parks, Launch Site Underworlds: Chumash History, Archaeology, and SpaceX Operations at the Vandenberg Space Force Base 

  • Althea Wasow, What, to the Imprisoned, Is “Universal Connectivity”?: Orbital Technopower at Vandenberg Space Force Base and Lompoc Fed

  • Carlos Jimenez & Dariel González Garcí, Agriculture and Aerospace: Examining Farmworkers and Rocket Launches in Lompoc

  • Lisa Parks, “Infrastructural Adjacencies: Chumash Histories, Archaeology, and SpaceX Operations at the Vandenberg Space Force Base,” History of Science Society/European History of Science Society Annual Conference, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, July 16, 2026

  • Sophia Abbey & Tara Plath, “Offsetting Risk in the New Space Era,” SIGCIS 2026 Conference, UC Berkeley, June 2026

  • Lisa Parks, “The Satellite Coast: Vandenberg Space, SpaceX, and Relations of Infrastructural Adjacency,” Dallas Smythe Memorial Distinguished Lecture, College of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, April 9, 2026

  • Lisa Parks & Sophia Abbey, “Launch Site Underworlds: Chumash History, Archaeology, and SpaceX Operations at the Vandenberg Space Force Base,” American Studies Association Conference, Nov. 2025

  • Carlos Jimenez, “Where Farms Meet the Sky: Examining Farmworkers and the Rocket Launches in Lompoc, California,” American Studies Association Conference, Puerto Rico, Nov. 2025

  • Althea Wasow, “Histories and Speculative Futures of Vandenberg Space Force Base and Lompoc Federal Prison,” American Studies Association Conference, Puerto Rico, Nov. 2025

  • Lisa Parks, “Ashes to Orbit,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Chicago, March 2025

  • Lisa Parks, "The ‘Satellite Imaging Race’: The NRO, Remote Sensing, and Intensified Commercialization,” Big Data and Society Colloquium, University of Kansas, Nov. 20, 2024