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Along with the two other baseline strategic documents we have featured here – Space Force’s Inaugural U.S. Commercial Space Strategy and DoD’s Commercial Space Integration Strategy – the State of the Space Industrial Base (SSIB) 2023 completes this triumvirate of strategic level setting documents – positioning the commercial space industry and space-based national security for exponential innovation and implementation in the next five to ten years. Details here.
“Collectively, these pillars contribute to the United States maintaining its technological leadership and the relevance of its space systems that we rely on to deter conflict…”
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) featured the report recently, highlighting the role of input from the commercial space sector: “For the first time, the SSIB’23 Report includes feedback from allies representing 17 partner nations collected during a workshop held at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
Major findings from these workshops include the need to:
Topic areas focus on assessing:
Collectively, these pillars contribute to the United States maintaining its technological leadership and the relevance of its space systems that we rely on to deter conflict, provide for homeland defense, and assure winning outcomes if war is waged against us.”
A central theme in the report is the need for the U.S. to adapt and innovate in order to stay ahead in the space tech race.
As reported by Space News:
The report notes that some major space industry challenges include supply chain vulnerabilities and workforce development issues. It recommends establishing trusted and resilient supply chains domestically and with U.S. allies. It also calls for streamlining bureaucratic processes that can delay crucial licensing and approvals. On the workforce front, the study emphasizes the need to attract and retain top talent in a highly competitive environment. Recommendations include expanding access to financial tools and fostering stronger partnerships between industry and academia. The report’s writers, a group of government and industry officials from various sectors of the space community, warn that, given China’s growing ambitions, the U.S. can’t afford to be complacent about its leadership in space.
They urge “continued investments by the DoD, NASA, the Department of Commerce, and other government agencies with space equities. Actions that accelerate the transition from prototype transactions to meaningful contracts for the procurement of hardware, software, or services,” the report says, “are key to sustaining the interest of private investors who have made billions of dollars of early-stage investments into technologies of significant interest to our national security.”
The key issues and challenges highlighted in the 2023 State of the Space Industrial Base report include addressing regulatory and political obstacles rather than technical ones. Participants discussed data gaps, latency issues, lack of clear U.S. policy for investment in commercial space, and regulatory limitations hindering U.S. commercial development. Impediments to global partnerships remain, with structural and cultural barriers affecting allied progress’s potential value and synergy. Despite progress in developing in-space servicing capabilities, challenges like uncertain venture capital climate and lack of a mature market hinder substantial growth. The U.S. aims to increase space cooperation, but significant barriers exist to achieving successful global partnerships.
More specifically, from the report:
Marketing Needs Reformation-Traditional marketing falls short with today’s youth. The target of space marketing needs to include parents as much as students, and e orts must be demographic appropriate. Participants identi ed that many outreach programs are lacking in modern marketing techniques and are limited to local and regional e orts. Furthermore, innovation of marketing is complicated as youth-oriented platforms like social media are especially vulnerable to misinformation. There is a lot of information in the world today, and many ways to get it. Space is not tangible; “out of sight, out of mind.”
Key inflection points framed by the report include:
Workshops were held in various locations to gather input from stakeholders and address challenges in the space industry, aiming to foster the growth of a diverse and capable space workforce. The report highlights the significance of addressing workforce issues to ensure the economic viability of the space industry and national security space capabilities.
The report includes a call for establishing a U.S. North Star Vision for Space to maintain a competitive edge against advancing nations like China and Russia. Participants emphasized the urgency of actions such as rapid acquisition of commercially-sourced capabilities, strengthening the space industrial base, and enabling priority processing of licenses for critical space systems. It was highlighted that adversaries creating a Hybrid Space Architecture could have severe global consequences, underscoring the necessity for appropriate policy and funding to address this threat. Additionally, companies rely on affordable premiums for space assets and freedom to experiment with new business models, and changes in these areas could impact opportunities for both established and emerging ventures. These recommendations aim to guide agencies in enacting essential changes to secure and advance the space industrial base.
For the full report, go to this link.
For additional OODA Loops News Briefs and Original Analysis on Space Exploration, go to OODA Loop | Space
DoD’s Unprecedented Commitment to a “Commercial Space Integration Strategy”: The recently released, first-of-its-kind U.S. Space Force (USSF) Commercial Space Strategy (CSS) serves as an extension of the also much anticipated Commercial Space Integration Strategy, released by the Department of Defense in early April 2024 (weeks before the release of the USSF CSS). The DoD strategy document outlines the “broad guidance for where and why the Pentagon will try to increase its use of commercial space technologies.” Details here.
Space Force Releases the Much Anticipated Inaugural U.S. Commercial Space Strategy: Last week, the U.S. Space Force (USSF) released the much-anticipated “Commercial Space Strategy” (CSS)—the first such strategy released by the USSF—which commits to realigning funding and prioritizing commercial space opportunities. Details from the USSF CSS are available here.
The Executive’s Guide to Space: The rapid pace of innovation in space produces real capabilities that can be leveraged for businesses in every sector of the economy. There is a growing excitement over the many developments in the space industry, giving rise to many questions about how these developments will impact markets overall. This guide is meant to assist strategic planners in assessing developments in the space sector. For more, see The Executive’s Guide To Commercial Use of Space
Security In Space and Security of Space: The last decade has seen an incredible increase in the commercial use of space. Businesses and individual consumers now leverage space solutions that are so integrated into our systems that they seem invisible. Some of these services include Communications, including very high-speed, low-latency communications to distant and mobile users. Learn more at the OODA Research Report: What Business Needs To Know About Security In Space. Also see Is Space Critical Infrastructure, the special report on Cyber Threats to Project Artemis, and Mitigating Threats To Commercial Space Satellites.
The Space Economy: Opportunities and Risks: After decades of stagnation, space innovation keeps pushing the boundaries of the possible, with new firsts emerging every month. This topic was explored at length at OODAcon 2023, with a deep dive into the emerging opportunities, economies, and risks associated with the rapid development of space-based technologies, resource acquisition, and shift from the public to the private sector. The following captures insights from a discussion between Ryan Westerdahl, CEO Turion Space and Sita Sonty, CEO Space Tango.
Space and National Security: We are entering a new age of exploration and human expansion into space. Explore this new space rush’s new national security and economic realities in this OODAcon 2023 Closing Keynote conversation between OODA CTO Bob Gourley and the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of the US Space Force, Lisa Costa.
Space Force’s Vital Work on Standards for Digital Twins and Global Supply Chain Resiliency: Following Lisa Costa (Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of the US Space Force’s attendance at OODAcon 2023 for a discussion of The New Space Rush, the following are some space operations and innovation initiatives in which the Space Force is taking the lead.
Commercial Space: Innovation, Regulation, and International Collaboration: The upcoming OODAcon 2023 panel – “The Space Edge – Defining New Opportunities, Economies, and Risks” – will dig deep into the emerging opportunities, economies, and risks associated with the rapid development of space-based technologies, resource acquisition, and shift from the public to private sector. After decades of stagnation, space innovation keeps pushing the boundaries of the possible, with new firsts emerging every month. Following is a compilation of OODA Loop’s original analysis and resources on the revolution evolution of the Commercial Space industry sector.
The Future of Space: National Security, Cybersecurity, and AI/ML: Exploring the new national security and economic realities of The New Space Rush will be the closing keynote discussion with Lisa Costa, the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of the US Space Force at OODAcon 2023. Following is a compilation of recent OODA analyses of the future of space, national security, cybersecurity artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Space Exploration Milestones of Note in 2023: A compilation of the space exploration milestones featured here at OODA Loop in 2023.
About the Author
Daniel Pereira is research director at OODA. He is a foresight strategist, creative technologist, and an information communication technology (ICT) and digital media researcher with 20+ years of experience directing public/private partnerships and strategic innovation initiatives.
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence