Katherine Melbourne

Katherine Melbourne is a national security space policy analyst in the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation. In this role, she writes about the future of space warfighting, performs international comparative research, and supports the development of tabletop exercises to test proposed policies and processes. 

Prior to joining Aerospace, Melbourne was a systems engineer at Ball Aerospace (now BAE Systems). There, she served on the commissioning team as a wavefront sensing scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, helping to align its mirrors. 

Melbourne previously designed a wargame for the United States Space Force on cislunar operations, published astrophysics research on stellar activity and its effects on exoplanet habitability, and assisted with drafting and negotiating agreements between NASA and its foreign partners. 

Education 

Melbourne earned a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from Yale University and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Awards and Honors 

Melbourne received a Future Space Leaders Foundation grant and the Secure World Foundation’s Dr. Michael Simpson scholarship in 2025. She is also a member of Payload Space’s 30 under 30 class of 2025. 

Affiliations 

Melbourne is a Brooke Owens Fellowship alumna