Space Systems Command (SSC) hosted the grand opening of its COSMIC collaboration center in Chantilly, VA on June 6. COSMIC, which stands for Commercial Space Marketplace for Innovation and Collaboration, is a newly established collaboration between SSC and the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation (VT-ARC) that supports SSC’s robust commercial space strategy to expedite delivery of game changing commercial capabilities to the warfighter.
According to Col. Richard Kniseley, Senior Materiel Leader for SSC’s Commercial Space Office (COMSO), COSMIC will facilitate opportunities for SSC to further increase its collaboration with industry and drive synergies with government agency partners.
“The National Capital Region is a sweet spot for connecting with government agencies in the intelligence community as well as with key space agencies such as NASA and the Space Development Agency,” noted Kniseley. “It’s also a major hub for commercial space industry companies.”
In addition to dedicated meeting space, the COSMIC collaboration includes analysis, STEM outreach, workforce development, and technology transition and transfer advisement provided by VT-ARC.
“The physical space and supporting services provided through COSMIC provide a place and means for us all to get together and best collaborate on commercial space capabilities, warfighter requirements, and how to best deliver those capabilities,” Kniseley said.
COSMIC is the latest initiative coming out of SSC’s newly rebranded and expanded COMSO, which is focused on facilitating commercial technology and service transfer at the speed of need to enable “fight tonight” capabilities for the nation’s warfighters. Already invested in commercial SATCOM and SDA services, COMSO is currently working through COSMIC and SSC’s Front Door for rapid scale-up of commercial tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking services as well as other off-the-shelf capabilities that can be leveraged to scale with speed and cost efficiency.
COSMIC is made possible through a partnership intermediary agreement between the Basic Research Innovation and Collaboration Partnership and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research. VT-ARC is the 501(c)3 nonprofit that serves as the intermediary responsible for COSMIC.
Source: SSC
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