From powering financial transactions to forecasting weather and enabling global communication, space technology underpins the modern world. Given this critical influence, the scope of global space operations has significantly expanded in recent years, with dozens of countries and numerous private entities venturing to the final frontier.
“It’s ironic to say this, but it’s getting crowded up there,” says Virginia “Ginny” Cevasco, a senior vice president at Booz Allen and leader in the company’s classified space business. “There are just so many more satellites and vehicles of all kinds, and much more debris along with that, that we have to navigate.”
Since claiming victory in the first space race, the U.S. has remained a top power in space exploration. But today’s proliferation of spacecraft—largely satellites, spurred by the popularity of SmallSats and satellite constellation systems—is causing an already remote environment to become even more challenging to manage. And while many space assets are launched with benign intent, geopolitical tensions with well-equipped adversaries have turned space into a contested environment.
“Space has to be for everybody who inhabits the planet, and we want everyone, ideally, to have the benefits we have from being in space,” explains Ginny. “The hard part used to be just getting the assets up there safely. Now, we have to think about how we are going to protect those assets.”
Michelle Harper, a Booz Allen leader who aids the United States Space Force (USSF) in critical digital transformation initiatives, notes that space may seem far removed from issues on the ground, but potential conflict is a pressing concern.
“We don’t have the time we used to to prepare for this [contested space environment],” she says. “It is real, and we have to get capabilities deployed, use what we have to defend U.S. satellites, concurrent with the Low Earth Orbit commercial proliferation of satellites that are out there from hurting each other and taking each other out.”
Military and civilian space agencies must harness the private sector's advances to keep their tactical edge in today’s space age and adhere to initiatives like the Defense Department’s recent Commercial Space Integration Strategy.
“Only about 20 years ago, government controlled space 100%. Today, it's less than 20%,” notes Karen Fields, who leads the NASA account at Booz Allen. “The commoditization of space is a reality now, and we have to make sure the government is keeping up with the commercial side.”