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February 28, 2020.

Launching Stellar Solutions and Delivering Historic Innovation for Our First Customer

January 1995 marked the beginning of a truly “stellar” journey that continues today. At that time, I had gained a lot of experience in a variety of technical areas as both an aerospace engineer and a technology manager, through 17 years of supporting satellite programs for large aerospace companies. But as I was promoted to roles of increasing responsibility, I began to find some of the work lacking a certain purpose and I missed the direct interaction with the customers. Being a parent factored in as well, to be honest: if you’re going to be away from family at work, it had better be for something important.

I wanted to refocus and create an elite cadre of like-minded superstars as part of a lean and mean organization. This was the “starter dough” needed for me to leave my industry job at age 39 and launch something of my own,  Stellar Solutions.

This company was built on my belief that the right talented scientists and engineers can solve any problem, which is why they should be treated as the company’s most important asset.  My corporate vision is based on this commitment to satisfying customers’ critical needs while realizing employee dream jobs. When looking back, maybe some might say I was blazing trails as a woman entrepreneur–but at the time I had my head down and was just working on the project.

Established as an aerospace engineering services firm that contracts with commercial businesses and government agencies like NASA and the Department of Defense, we opened our doors in February 1995 and quickly grew from just one to five employees. Each person added something special, and now 25 years later this continues to be our secret sauce.

The “star” of Stellar Solutions was devised from the start to symbolize five sectors of business—commercial, defense, intelligence, civil and international, among which we intended  to “cross boundaries” creatively in pursuit of  the best solutions for our clients. With our unique approaches to staffing, client focus, and culture, we put something in place that was built to last. The newly founded company’s first customer was satellite company Space Imaging Inc., which had been formed just the year before with financial backing of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Raytheon Systems Company, Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

In what will become a defining trend for Stellar Solutions, we were at the forefront of the fledgling space-based imaging industry in Colorado, supporting one of the two main players racing to commercialize the technology of spy satellites. Space Imaging, which eventually became part of DigitalGlobe, named its satellite system IKONOS, from the Greek eikōn, for “image”. Not only was Space Imaging our first customer and partner, the contract became our first renewal in August 1995! In 2011, the Space Technology Hall of Fame recognized DigitlGlobe for its pioneering work in adapting Earth-imaging satellite technology for commercial use.

The geospatial imagery analytics market grew to an estimated $3.75 Billion in 2017, with DigitalGlobe identified as a major market player in December 2019. Geospatial technologies that depend on these imagery services, like global positioning system (GPS), remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) have truly transformed our society and knowledge-base as well as our ability to secure, protect and defend our way of life.

As I reflect on these 25 years, I am so happy with everything our Stellar Team has achieved together. I still get inspired just thinking about our stellar employees,  the stellar customers we work for, the critical challenges being solved for the important projects we’re supporting, and our incredible culture of great people coming together to tackle these vital challenges with positive spirit and camaraderie. From our very first customer and a single employee in 1995 to dozens of partners and nearly 200 employees supporting a diverse portfolio in 2020, every project receiving our expertise and services over the past two decades has shown long-term global impact. I couldn’t be prouder, and I am convinced that our framework and legacy of success will not only carry on for another 25 years but last “to infinity and beyond”.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. – Lao Tzu

There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. – Jim Lovell

About the Author:
Celeste Ford is Founder and Board Chair of Stellar Solutions.

February 26, 2020.

Federal chief technologist Amy Chaput named VP for Civil Programs

On the eve of its 25th anniversary, Stellar Solutions, Inc. announced that Vice President for Civil Programs Richard Rogers will become its first Executive Vice President. Stellar Solutions also welcomes Amy Chaput, who succeeds Rogers after having recently served as acting Chief Technology Officer at a U.S. federal government agency.

In this new strategy and operations leadership role for the company, Rogers will work closely with Chief Executive Officer Michael Lencioni in leading strategic initiatives focused on integration and development across Stellar Solutions’ commercial, defense, intelligence, civil aerospace, and international lines of business. This appointment sustains the company’s unique and collaborative approach to meeting the critical engineering needs of vital customers.

A senior executive with extensive experience leading complex government and private sector organizations, Chaput will take over as VP for Civil Programs and lead Stellar’s efforts to deliver critical engineering solutions for non-profit, industry, and government partners related to non-defense federal aerospace programs. These initiatives include legacy and “new” robotic and human space missions, remote sensing instruments, transportation systems, emerging exploration technologies and ground-based astronomy systems.

Stellar Solutions is enabling critical Earth science activities, including researching and monitoring severe weather, climate, and geophysical hazards for protection of life and property; and paving the way to innovative space exploration and transportation to explore new frontiers in space, like the South Pole of the Moon or even Mars.

“I am extremely proud of our notable accomplishments in civil programs under Richard’s leadership while excited for the new possibilities and perspectives that Amy Chaput brings to the team. We are building upon recent achievements and major past milestones as we look forward to the next 25 years of exemplary performance for our customers,” said Michael Lencioni.

Read the full press release here: https://www.prweb.com/releases/stellar_solutions_inc_promotes_richard_rogers_to_executive_vice_president/prweb16935286.htm

February 25, 2020.

Yesterday, we lost a great forerunner in the ongoing quest for equality and innovation. African American female mathematician and “Hidden Figure” Katherine Johnson passed away at the age of 101. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said, “At NASA we will never forget her courage and leadership and the milestones we could not have reached without her. We will continue building on her legacy and work tirelessly to increase opportunities for everyone who has something to contribute toward the ongoing work of raising the bar of human potential.”

I will talk a bit more in March (Women’s History Month) about “stellar women” in science and technology. But I couldn’t help but reflect now on Katherine Johnson, who has been such an incredible pioneer at the intersection of black and women’s history. On a side note, this year marks an amazing set of milestones in both of these areas, which has often been the case and is highlighted by the current Black History Month theme, African Americans and the Vote. The peak of the women’s suffrage movement 100 years ago resulted in ultimate victory: the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, prohibiting the practice of denying US. citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex.  Fifty years before (in 1870, 150 years ago), the Fifteenth Amendment similarly removed race or color as a barrier to voting.

Personally, I can identify with Katherine Johnson’s experience blazing trails in fields where people who looked like me were either actively discouraged or completely prevented from participating. Just a few decades ago, helping NASA build and launch rockets was a dream that seemed either impossible or just out of reach for many groups that remain underrepresented even today.

What’s often left out of the story of Katherine and many others is that while being among the most apparent qualities, her race and gender are the least exceptional things about her. Long before her groundbreaking work calculating spacecraft trajectories and launch windows for Projects Mercury and Apollo as well as the Space Shuttle, Johnson enrolled in high school at only ten years of age. She was identified as gifted and talented when she was quite young, but public schools in the West Virginia county where she grew up did not offer education for black students past 8th grade. So she attended a high school on the campus of a historically black college, West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University). After being mentored by college professors and taking every available undergraduate math course while inspiring new ones, she graduated high school at 14. She continued her studies on the campus and graduated summa cum laude four years later with undergraduate degrees in mathematics and French. Then, she became among three black students, and the only female, to integrate West Virginia University’s graduate school after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1938.

Katherine was making history long before her work at NASA! What an extraordinary story despite immense obstacles, and it was just the beginning. At every step of her journey, Katherine was doing something that few or none like her (or perhaps not like her) had ever done– the epitome of exploration and invention. But it reminds me of something I’ve always noted: that women have had to be truly extraordinary just to get a seat at the table among regular men. A hundred years after Katherine was born, we still have a way to go but I am confident and optimistic regarding our progress as a society. Katherine’s bravery and uniqueness make her not just a hero for women and girls everywhere, but for all of us as people.

Like what you do, and then you will do your best. —Katherine Johnson

If you’re always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be. —Maya Angelou

About the Author:
Celeste Ford is Founder and Board Chair of Stellar Solutions.

February 12, 2020.

A series of announcements over the past several months have shown that the launch of the sixth branch of the nation’s armed services, the United States Space Force (USSF), is fully underway. The National Defense Authorization Act, which passed in December with bipartisan support from Congress and was signed into law by the President, has enabled this transformation of the nation’s approach to national security in orbit and beyond.  More implementation details are to be determined, but these events are “among the most significant reorganizations of the military since the Goldwater-Nichols Act of the Reagan years, and the first addition of a new branch since the Air Force was broken out of the Army’s Air Corps in 1947,” according to Wired.com

These efforts will mandate dramatic change in the existing Air Force Space Command (including space technology programs like Global Positioning System, Defense Meteorological Satellites, the Space-Based Infrared System and launch vehicles like Delta II, Delta IV and Atlas) as it is re-designated as the USSF – and present significant challenges ahead. This combined with the August re-establishment of U.S. Space Command as a combatant command focused on space makes for an exciting time in the space community.

For those within the broader defense and intelligence communities, there are many things to consider in terms of developing and supporting this new mandate:

• How can U.S. Space Command focus on its role as a “combatant command” while still being able to integrate with other all the armed forces? 
• How will the new USSF transform itself from organizing, training and equipping services for the Department of Defense to a high-tech source of space fighters? 

“This new approach to national security with the U.S. Space Force focuses on missions in the space arena, and will change the way we plan battle strategy,” says Michael Lencioni, CEO of Stellar Solutions. As a global aerospace engineering services leader with specialties in defense, cyber-security and intelligence, Stellar Solutions and companies like us have an important role to play in this new landscape.

There are many other broad questions swirling around what the USSF will become and how it will operate. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein essentially wondered this very thing, asking whether the USSF in practice will constitute “a marriage or a divorce” between the two armed services. Beyond the USSF leadership and initial staffing levels which are being finalized along with the “Comprehensive Plan for the Organizational Structure of the U.S. Space Force” report released last week, we have identified a few recommendations or issues for consideration based on our expertise with Air Force programs:

• Develop a unique “warrior culture.”  As an independent service, the USSF must rapidly focus on building its culture.  As it will join warfighting efforts with the other services in the Joint domains, the USSF will need to prioritize its doctrine, education, and training, while effectively establishing its own differentiators from its sister forces.

• Become more agile in acquisitions and implementation.  Because the USSF will be “exotically smaller” than other forces with approximately 16,000 people to start out with, it will require greater focus and agility.  Resources will come from commercial innovators (i.e. SpaceX) to quickly provide state-of-the-art hardware, software and data applications. Developing innovative ways to purchase these capabilities and refines development using commercial capabilities will be key.

• Integrate strategically with forces on the ground and in the air.  Dispelling the science-fiction idea of “Star Wars” battles, real-life conflict in space would arise from Earthly disputes and likewise result in terrestrial damage.  Not only will the USSF be required to work seamlessly with the other armed services and Combatant Commands, it must bring together acquisition through the SMC (Space and Missile Systems Center), SDA (Space Development Agency) and Space Rapid Capabilities Office as well as partnerships within the U.S. and with our allies.  Each of these organizations must focus on the integration beyond space.

These early thoughts are informed by our significant expertise in space-based technology and leadership in the civil and defense arenas, and our Malcolm Baldrige Award-winning performance results based on innovative business practices. At Stellar Solutions, our focus on culture has direct ties to performance excellence, we “cross boundaries” to achieve strategic and innovative solutions, and we are embracing agility across all levels of our organization. 

Next steps toward further defining USSF are due to happen quickly. The February 2020 Air Force Association Newsletter released last week opened with a preview of the President’s FY 2021 Budget Request, which is expected to be released next week and address the USSF with a focus on four themes:

• Inter-service connectivity for “the joint fight”
• Space operational capability
• Stand-in and standoff capabilities
• Logistics for a more expeditionary Air Force

As a committed member of the defense community with significant experience advising companies on building the relationships and creating the organization to manage complex integrations, we are looking forward to the game-changing developments, opportunities and results that are possible with the new USSF.  Stellar Solutions is leading robust technology, management, and expert solutions for Department of Defense customers related to space and missile systems for national protection and security.

About the Authors:
Betsy J. Pimentel, Vice President, Defense Programs
Punch Moulton, Vice President, Cyber and Defense Support

February 12, 2020.

Launched at 11:03 pm on Sunday February 9, the European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft is officially on its way to study the sun’s polar regions, thanks in large part to the dedicated oversight of Stellar Solutions’ John Satrom. John served as Launch Vehicle Integration Manager for the joint NASA-European Space Agency program that will measure the inner part of the extended solar-system environment, or heliosphere, as well as the flow of charged particles from the sun called the solar wind.

John has been working on this project for nearly seven years, traveling between work sites in Europe and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Despite many delays on the project throughout the development life cycle, the evening launch of the Atlas V was spectacular and cheered by many on both sides of the Atlantic.

At nearly one-quarter of Earth’s distance from the sun, Solar Orbiter will be exposed to sunlight 13 times more intense than what we feel on Earth. The spacecraft must also endure powerful bursts of atomic particles from explosions in the solar atmosphere. Solar Orbiter will help scientists better understand the sun’s magnetic field, and the solar cycle of variations in sunspots, radiation levels and the solar wind, which can negatively affect our communications systems and other technology.

Congratulations to John and the Solar Orbiter Team!