A Corporate University Approach to National Security Space Education

Abstract

This paper desribes the elements of a cor porate university approach to National Security Space Education, including: the driving factors and design of the overall space education curriculum (including “technical specialty” and “systems” components); the implementation of an in -house “certificate program” for systems architecting, systems acquisition, and space systems engineering skills development; the development and utilization of E -learning resources; and the exploitation of in -house -developed space education courses for delivery to NSS custom ers and community. In addition, the paper will discuss the evaluation of the approach in terms of its overall effectiveness/value, and provide a summary of continuing issues and key lessons -learned in its implementation. I. Introduction n the current envi ronment of greater complexity/rising costs associated with National Security Space missions, systems and technologies, development and maintenance of the corporate workforce capabilities needed to deal with these challenges is critical. While effective co rporate recruiting plans/practices constitute a vital “front line of defense,” the need to properly orient and continually educate not only corporate employees but customers and the broader community as well on the latest perspectives, methods, and develop ments associated with “NSS Space” is rapidly growing. As a result, many corporations are placing stronger demands on their in -house training and education organizations to develop and deliver cost -effective “space education” solutions that are tailored to the unique job environment and skills needs of the national security space professional workforce. In particular, educational solutions are sought that exploit the inherent knowledge and experience of “in -house” corporate engineering/scientific staff in a ddition to the more “fundamental -theory -oriented” continuing education programs and curricula typically offered by academia. To address this situation at The Aerospace Corporation, an integrated approach to space education has been developed and implement ed by The Aerospace Institute (the company’s “corporate university”) for the design, delivery, and exploitation of in -house learning opportunities and resources supporting the corporation’s engineers and scientists in addition to Aerospace customers and th e broader National Security Space community.