The Space Hour

Got the chance earlier to speak to someone who was among the first technology experts in the U.S. Space Force. Preston Dunlap was the first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Architect Officer of the U.S. Space Force and Air Force. He's now an independent director on corporate boards and advisor for companies such SOSi. Here is that interview.

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When I use the term Space norms, what does that mean to you? Well as it turns out, defense norms have been a part of foreign policy for a while now. They out line what falls under the category of good manners when it comes to actions taken by nations. So what about space? How this concept be applied, or can it at all? These are the questions I posed to Robin Dickey, a space policy and strategy analyst at the Aerospace Corporation who wrote about this issue recently for the website War on the Rocks.'

https://warontherocks.com/2023/06/why-norms-matter-more-than-ever-for-space-deterrence-and-defense/

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Earlier this summer, the Information Technology Industry Council announced it had acquired the Space Enterprise Council. They did this with the hopes of promoting U.S. national security space programs, space cybersecurity, and space education. I had to find out what that meant, and I got the chance, speaking to Gordon Bitko, Executive Vice President of Policy at ITI.

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The accounting firm Deloitte recently announced the launch of a formal space practice to connect organizations in rapidly growing global space ecosystem. It hopes to start consulting small and large organizations navigate an industry that's forecasted to grow to more than $1 trillion by 2040. To find out more, I chatted with Brett Loubert who is principal of Deloitte Space. 

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Investments in the U.S. space industry dropped 53% to $2.2 billion in the first three months of 2023. That's according to recent analysis from Space Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in the space economy. To find out what that means for firms like his and the current financial state of the industry itself, I talked with Chad Anderson who is Founder and Managing Partner of Space Capital. 

https://www.spacecapital.com/quarterly?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLGjBhDKARIsAFRNgW-otsbJJkVwatAR6mpQ_sjxt8J3fi9WCKukcajZ8VMjjciUGQO3E0kaAtwoEALw_wcB

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Recently, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission released a report recommending that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should identify space systems as a critical infrastructure sector. Such a move could help improve the nation's overall cybersecurity measures, but what else could it do to protect our interests in space? To learn more, we got a return visit from Vishnu Reddy, professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona.

https://www.solarium.gov/report

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NASA may have been voted the best place to work for the last 11 years, it may still have some work to do in diversifying its workforce. According to a recent report from the agency's inspector general, it's made little progress in increasing the representation of women and minorities in its civilian workforce or leadership ranks. To discuss some of the IG's findings and what NASA's doing to fix it, I spoke with Tekla Colon, Director-Mission Support Audits in the IG office.

https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-23-011.pdf

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Researchers have long known that blasting off into space can have adverse impacts on the brain, from the g-forces associated with liftoff and landing, to t he radiation, microgravity, and isolation of space travel. To help mitigate those effects, NASA in coordination with the BrainHQ app, conducted a study to see if exercises on the app could help ward off any brain fog caused by space travel. I got the chance to discuss the research with BrainHQ's senior research scientist Dr. Mouna Attarha.

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You've heard a lot about cybersecurity within government networks, especially if you're a devoted listener of us here at Federal News Network. Well now there could be a similar ongoing battle in space, particularly with the nation's and international satellites that we all rely on for our daily lives now. Some experts are ringing the alarm bell saying nation states are already crafting cyber-attacks against space-based assets, and the government is taking notice. To learn more about this, I spoke with Bill Harrod, Public Sector CTO for Ivanti.

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At the end of April, a long time NASA official will be stepping down from a prominent posting. Kathryn Lueders will be retiring from the agency after 31 years. Her current position of associate administrator of NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate obviously has a big role to play in the space agency's future plans, which is why her successor has already been named. I had the chance to discuss that with her, but we started by getting to know a little bit about her past and the road she took to get where she is today.

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