Government and industry space program leaders shared perspectives on innovation and how to achieve space mission success at the eighth annual U.S. Space Mission Assurance Summit held at The Aerospace Corporation on Apr. 19–20. This year’s theme, “Innovative Approaches to Achieve Mission Success,” addressed the theme from different perspectives including, how to incentivize the supply chain, reduce acquisition timelines and costs, and impacts of Better Buying Power 3.0.
Dr. Wanda Austin, president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, hosted the annual event bringing government and industry partners together to focus on delivering 100-percent mission success. “The goal is to take the lessons learned from this summit back to our respective agencies and organizations, so that we can improve our practices and implement stronger mission assurance strategies for the future benefit of our nation,” said Austin.
A government panel comprised of executive leaders from NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, Missile Defense Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center shared their perspectives followed by an industry panel that included senior executives from Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace, Orbital ATK, Intelsat General, and SES Government Solutions.
In preparation for the MA Summit, Aerospace collaborated with government agencies and industry to revise its Mission Assurance Strategic Intent Framework aimed at “Creating an Environment to Achieve 100-Percent Mission Success.” This framework was recently updated in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by leaders of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, National Reconnaissance Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Missile Defense Agency, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that recognizes the importance and value of our critical space systems to national security. The dynamic nature of the space systems acquisition and operations domain combined with continued budget pressures demands that space leaders continually look for opportunities to improve the collective methods and tools to effectively deliver mission success.
Mr. Winston Beauchamp, Senior Executive Service member and the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space delivered the keynote address today discussing the space environment’s period of rapid change. “The emerging threats to our space systems require the incorporation of resilience,” said Beauchamp. “We need to change the way we view mission assurance. We must emphasize resilience at the same level as cost, schedule, and performance.”
The Mission Assurance Summit provides a forum for U.S. space program leadership to collaborate, learn, and enhance mission assurance of all critical space programs that provide essential services security to the country. The U.S. space program leadership has agreed, in principle, that the strategic intent of the Mission Assurance Summit is to create an environment that will deliver 100-percent mission success — and to a mission assurance framework that helps achieve that goal.
The Aerospace Corporation is a California nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center and has almost 3,600 employees. It provides technical guidance and advice on all aspects of space missions to military, civil, and commercial customers to assure space mission success. The Aerospace Corporation is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., with multiple locations across the United States.
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For more information, contact: mediaqueries@aero.org
