Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen desires business firms to unravel Area Power issues, but when the U.S. Area Power may help them, that is OK together with her, too.
That is a part of the message she delivered on the Space Mobility Conference on the Orange County Conference Heart, bringing collectively a mixture of navy, civil and business gamers within the space sport.
“We’re actually attempting to focus in on what the warfighters want and take it one step farther,” mentioned Panzenhagen, who wears 4 hats for the Area Power, together with commander of Area Launch Delta 45 based mostly at Patrick Area Power Base in Brevard County.
Taking on the function final summer time from Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, she’s additionally director of the Jap Vary in command of each launch out of Cape Canaveral Area Power Station and Kennedy Area Heart and the director of launch and vary operations for Area Methods Command, that means she has a say within the launches from the Western Vary out of Vandenberg Area Power Station as effectively.
The ultimate, and debatably the largest hat she wears, although, is as program government officer for the Assured Entry to Area group inside Area Methods Command. That job entails overseeing 22,000 authorities and contractor personnel and main national security and different navy launch applications with an annual price range of $13.5 billion.
The Area Mobility Convention, now in its second yr, is an outreach effort of Assured Entry to Area.
“In 2020 the Area Power introduced space mobility and logistics as one among its core competencies,” she mentioned. “That is the place the focus is correct now for the Area Power—for creating these capabilities.”
With a document 72 launches from the Area Coast in 2023 and near 100 anticipated in 2024, she says launches stay an essential focus of that mobility, however this week’s convention centered on different features of the navy wants and simply how business firms may assist.
The day featured panels masking issues reminiscent of refueling older satellites, partnering with different international locations to share spaceports, and point-to-point fast rocket supply of provides. Representatives for firms together with SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Area wearing enterprise informal fare combined with navy personnel in camouflage uniforms.
“We tried to convey collectively all of the gamers for a really open dialog,” she mentioned. “We actually need to hear unconstrained concepts … We additionally actually need to perceive the realm of the potential not simply technologically, however what makes a possible enterprise case for business with a few of these applied sciences.”
Business firms already routinely work the navy, however with competitors from the likes of China, as an example, the necessity to sustain with innovation requires extra reliance on business assist than ever earlier than, she mentioned.
Panzenhagen mentioned the U.S. is in a “Nice Energy competitors” and the Area Power considers “China the pacing problem. …. And due to that … we all know our primary precedence is deterring a possible battle. However then ought to battle come up, we have to make it possible for we’re prepared for it.”
Area Power wants responsiveness constructed into its techniques and {hardware}, tactically related timelines and supporting infrastructure “as a result of these issues are good for warfighting capabilities, which suggests they’re good for deterrence,” she mentioned.
However the excellent news is American business endeavors are as much as the duty, she mentioned.
“This can be a implausible period of innovation that we’re seeing within the space business. One in all America’s strengths has at all times been its capacity to innovate. And the DoD [Department of Defense] as a lot as potential tries to capitalize on that innovation,” she mentioned.
That features know-how reminiscent of reusable rockets, but additionally issues reminiscent of 3D printing and even processes that may reduce down on response time. Rewarding business endeavors helps the nation as effectively, she mentioned.
“From a authorities standpoint, encouraging competitors, bringing on extra distributors is sweet for us. It improves resiliency, which once more, good for space order of battle, good for deterrence,” she mentioned.
Panzenhagen mentioned the day’s dialogue was invaluable.
“This was rather a lot right this moment. That was an unimaginable quantity of experience. It was actually centuries of experience that we had sitting up on stage so we may choose their brains,” she mentioned.
“I took most likely about two pages of notes right this moment, and it is break up roughly 50-50. Half of it’s issues that I used to be like “Oh shoot, I must go do that’ and the opposite half was issues I used to be like, “Oh shoot, I must get smarter on this, so i can go do one thing.'”
2024 Orlando Sentinel. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
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