One of the eternal truths of national security, and life in general for that matter, is that bad things happen quickly and unexpectedly. Stock market crashes, armed invasions, cyber-attacks, or even fatal diseases arrive without warning. Doing our best to prepare for the catastrophes while we still progress as a society is how we build true space resilience: industrially, operationally, economically, and militarily.

Space has become an essential part of everyday life the world over, yet there is more uncertainty about the safety and security today than ever before. We are completely dependent on space as critical infrastructure, and it is integral to our national and environmental defense. At the same time, we have near peer rivals eager to see us fail, and the industrial base that has provided capabilities for the last 50 years is obsolete, inefficient, and cannot meet our needs of the space century. So how then, should our government space agencies fortify the resilience against unexpected catastrophes just around the corner?

Today, all government agencies that affect US space capability must accelerate the pivot to a hybrid architecture that they have been talking about for years. It is no longer sufficient to placate an inquisitive Congress with rhetoric alone; we need more action than just suggesting government and commercial systems work harder to cooperate and interoperate. Instead, all agencies must commit to sourcing “off the shelf” (OTS) systems and capabilities whenever we can, and develop if and only if there is no way to meet the need with some combination of OTS products or commercial services. It is now the only course of action that will embolden the American space industrial base today and ensure its longevity without government handouts in the long run…

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