From the Ground Up: Ensuring Combat Readiness through Space Modeling, Testing, and Futures Planning

This is part 3 of a 4-part series. Read the previous posts here and subscribe to get the final post when it’s published. Testing space systems on orbit is costly, constrained, and risky. Yet readiness in space cannot be theoretical. In a contested domain where launch cycles are long and failure is costly, the United […]

Space Warfare: How the U.S. Can Stay Ahead in the Orbital Arms Race

This is part 2 of a 4-part series. Read the previous posts here and subscribe to get the final post when it’s published. From Congested Orbits to Contested Battlespace The space domain has transformed in scale, scope, and strategic consequence. What once was a benign operational backdrop is now a contested warfighting domain. China and […]

Operating in a Contested Orbit: Why Culture and Doctrine Are Key Elements of Space Superiority

This is part 1 of a 4-part series. Read the previous posts here and subscribe to get the final post when it’s published. Rebuilding Strategic Advantage in Orbit In 2008, the number of tracked objects in orbit was just over 9,500. Today, that number exceeds 47,000—and rising. Satellites, debris, and maneuverable platforms crowd every regime […]

From Overconfidence to Realism: Overcoming Bias in Early Cost Forecasting

In March 2025, Systems Planning & Analysis (SPA) experts Patrick Malone and Christina Snyder, ICEAA Board President and SPA’s Fellow for Cost Estimation and Analysis, along with clinical psychologist Benjamin Snyder, PhD, presented groundbreaking insights at the IEEE Aerospace Conference in Big Sky, Montana, in their presentation “Evaluating and Minimizing Cost Estimating Bias Early in […]