Enabling a New Space Paradigm: Harnessing Space Mobility and Logistics

Space Mobility and Logistics (SM&L) has recently been declared a core competency by the U.S. Space Force (USSF). SM&L encompasses capabilities meant to make spacecraft more maneuverable, adaptable, and resilient, including inspection, materiel logistics, orbit modification, refueling, client augmentation, and active debris removal. For each of these capability areas, USSF can adopt one or more of four general approaches (Participant, Customized, Anchor Tenant, and Owner) that provide a clearer roadmap to allow USSF to build a mature SM&L architecture. Though additional optimization could be done to figure out strategies and approaches for more specific applications, the least optimal choice is to do nothing at all.

Authors: Harrison Wight, Joshua P. Davis and Rebecca Reesman