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September 19, 2019.

Stellar Solutions Founder and Board Chair Celeste Ford recently interviewed with The Kamla Show as part of its Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) series. The interview aired in multiple markets nationwide and will continue to be shown through 2020 in addition to being available online.

Click here to see the interview. Other national leaders interviewed for this series include former United States Chief Technologist Megan Smith.

The Kamla Show is a weekly TV series hosted in Silicon Valley, that engages high-profile female leaders, entrepreneurs, technologists, filmmakers, artists and other newsmakers from the San Francisco Bay area. The show currently broadcasts in nearly 40 states, with customers including PBS and independent stations, cable and school districts. 

Having founded Stellar Solutions nearly 25 years ago as one of very few women-owned technical companies in aerospace, Celeste is committed to sharing her experiences, knowledge and success with the next generation of female leaders.

September 19, 2019.

Recent events in the news are a reminder of how the aerospace and technology world is constantly changing in ways that Stellar is striving to address, just as the entrepreneurial landscape remains even more dynamic and competitive. Shifts in national policies can impact many of our customers, and in turn influence our ability to meet their critical needs. We also view evolving requirements as opportunities to strengthen current relationships and capabilities as well as build new ones.

The White House released National Security Presidential Memorandum-20 on August 20, regarding the “Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems“.

The National Space Council recently met, with several recommendations to the President regarding NASA’s work in human exploration of the Moon and eventually Mars (Space Policy Directive-1) – to include international and commercial partnerships.

Finally, as reported by several news sources, in late August we saw the first major step in the formulation of an entirely new branch of the U.S. military–the creation of a Space Command.

• Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, noted in April that “there’s no doubt the Space Force of the future will have to have a very strong relationship with the National Reconnaissance Office.”
• “After months of analysis and deliberations, the intelligence community and Department of Defense have agreed to align U.S. Space Command and the NRO into a new, unified defense concept of operations at the National Space Defense Center,”  said Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.
• Maguire also said: “As part of U.S. Space Command, the National Space Defense Center is a joint DoD-Intelligence Community organization and will become the center of gravity for defending our vital interest in space,” and “For the first time, there will be a unified structure that fully integrates Intelligence Community and Department of Defense space defense plans, authorities and capabilities to ensure seamless execution of space defense systems.”
• Gen. Joe Dunford, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff indicated that the primary missions of the new U.S. Space Command are “missile warning, satellite operations, space control and space support.”
• Former NRO Director Marty Faga said, “The speed of attacks on satellites is the major reason for the change in command structure. A big problem at least currently for all of our systems, military and IC [intelligence community], is that many forms of attack will come with no warning like cyber, jamming and laser. Moreover, kinetic ASAT [anti-satellite] attack in LEO [low earth orbit] takes eight minutes from launch to strike. It will be quite a while before our ability to detect, track and respond will be that fast.”

In addition to all of our very important civil and commercial work, space protection and resiliency are at the forefront of our mission partners’ critical needs–and Stellar is postured to lead in this effort. Our teams bring cutting-edge commercial technologies and expertise in the field to ensure the physical and cyber security of our nation and its allies.  The increasing complexity of emerging threats requires a systems approach to mitigate and deter, our domain of expertise. Defense Programs VP Betsy Pimentel recently discussed the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s focus on “EPIC Speed” in transforming defense technology acquisition and development, and how Stellar is already walking the talk with our high-impact enterprise solutions, partnerships and customer service, cross-cutting innovation (among our Defense, Intelligence, and Defense Support & Cyber business sectors), and unique culture.

We are closely monitoring all of these national space developments, as part of our delivery of ongoing end-to-end systems engineering for space systems and supporting infrastructure, as well as processes and strategies that serve the government in missile warning, communications, surveillance, and risk management. Stellar is helping our customers ensure space superiority, resiliency, and continuity of operations around the globe.

About the author: Michael Lencioni is the CEO of Stellar Solutions, providing key leadership and strategic direction for the international systems engineering company’s rapid-response capabilities and services related to global surveillance and cybersecurity, space exploration, risk management, and technology optimization.

August 19, 2019.

Part of the United States Air Force Space Command, the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in Los Angeles provides principal development and acquisition for military space capabilities. The SMC is in the process of implementing a restructure of the organization to reinvigorate its workforce and shift its overall focus to an enterprise approach. Announced last year by the Secretary of the Air Force, the stated central goal is to “take down the walls that keep programs in stovepipes and create a more unified enterprise that looks at systems horizontally from design to production.”

As part of our key support to all phases of space system development and operations across numerous sectors, Stellar Solutions already embraces many of the elements of SMC 2.0 and we’ve seen significant evidence of their effectiveness and success.

The central concept used to describe the transformation of this organization, SMC 2.0, is “EPIC Speed”. This means: evaluating capabilities at the Enterprise level; using Partnerships wherever possible to build on Innovation of others as well as sharing technologies internal to the Air Force; and changing the Culture to move quickly and accept measured risk.  These approaches are being combined to increase the speed of acquisition.

Stellar Enterprise: our employee-driven strategic perspective is designed to continue fulfilling our vision to realize employee dream jobs while meeting critical customer needs. Although our activities and organization are defined by customer-focused business sectors, all employees are encouraged and enabled to cross boundaries to achieve the best possible enterprise solution (“buy 2, get 200”).

Stellar Partnerships: our boundary-crossing activities enable cooperation across our sectors and ultimately our customer bases. An example is the collaboration between the Overhead Persistent Infrared community within our Defense and Intelligence Sectors and the weather communities (terrestrial/climate and space weather including solar events) within our Defense and Civil Sectors.  We are working together on sensor development, data processing and products, and end-user application—in addition to our overall systems engineering support to sensor and spacecraft integration in both areas. Our Defense Support and Cyber sector also brings a partnership to the warfighter community using exercises to ensure that the capabilities being developed will integrate well into the theater of operations.

Stellar Innovation: our “built to last” business processes adapt internally to support changes in our environment. Stellar Solution’s initiatives with new space entrants in all technology areas ensure our familiarity with the latest innovations and our readiness to deliver related solutions to our customers in all sectors, informing the way ahead.

Stellar Culture: our culture of collaboration and answering questions at the speed of need bring together solutions that meet our customers’ critical requirements. Our corporate focus on engaging employees and customers is a vital part of Stellar’s Baldrige journey of performance excellence and sustainability.

The SMC Commander, Lt. General John F. Thompson, recently testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Strategic Forces that our space forces face an environment that is increasingly competitive. He indicated that while America enjoys superiority in other mission areas, “our adversaries have recognized the extent to which our space capabilities provide a strategic advantage and are working to deny the use of our capabilities with asymmetric advantages of their own; the space acquisition enterprise must adapt to deliver capabilities to outpace the threat.”

I am personally excited for this opportunity to help the Air Force and the broader community rise to the challenge. EPIC Speed is not possible without continued focus on each of these key elements: enterprise, partnerships, innovation and culture. The application of these concepts within our Stellar culture is consistent with the goals of SMC 2.0, and focusing on that alignment in each mission area will embody a future enterprise with the resiliency needed to meet our nation’s needs.

About the author: Betsy Pimentel is Vice President for Defense Programs at Stellar Solutions, leading robust technology, management, and expert solutions for Department of Defense customers related to space and missile systems for national protection and security.

 

August 2, 2019.

In January 2019, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (SFN) conducted their fifth in a series of table-top exercises (TTXs), and Stellar Solutions played a vital role in the event as both leader and facilitator.  Attended by 12 NATO senior officers and over 40 NATO staff officers and civilian equivalents, this two-day TTX focused on preparing ballistic missile defenses and integrating NATO maritime capabilities.

NATO, the political and military alliance whose purpose is to guarantee freedom and security of its members through political and military means, has addressed missile defense as a key part of its ongoing mission since 2011.  Broad area missile defense of NATO Europe is sustained with a new generation of “Upper Tier” capabilities provided by the U.S. to include Aegis ships and an Aegis Ashore site in Romania (and soon, its twin in Poland).

Sometimes informally referred to as a “wargame,” a TTX is an in-depth, facilitated forum consisting of tailored simulations, briefings, scenarios, role-playing and strategic planning. NATO routinely conducts TTXs on missile defense to ensure readiness, and this year’s discussion topics ranged from tactical and operational to strategic.  As the U.S. contribution to NATO’s missile defense system, European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), is nearing operational capability of its third phase, senior leaders also discussed the implementation of this next evolution in defending NATO.

Stellar Solutions provides high-end planning and facilitation expertise for these critical events for senior leaders, and we have been proud to plan and lead dozens of them since 2014.  Our team of retired senior military officers collaborate with the Missile Defense Agency’s modeling and simulation team to craft scenarios and high-end simulations that challenge the participants and create opportunities for dialogue and growth.

Missile defense requires a complex network of radar, sensors, satellites, and interceptors – on land, in the air, at sea, and in space.  In order to effectively provide that defense, NATO orchestrates command and control for the “Upper Tier” missile defense capabilities and synchronizes them with “Lower Tier” assets (Patriots and SAMP/T) and air defenses focused on cruise missiles and aircraft.  That’s the essence of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD).

For the last five years, SFN has sought to refine command and control of the maritime assets within NATO’s missile defense architecture.  Partnering with NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) and NATO Air Command (AIRCOM), SFN has conducted a series of TTXs to broaden the understanding of these complex defenses and to hone the skills of leaders who will direct the defenses.

These are exactly the types of multi-day forums that senior leaders and commanders need to sharpen their strategic and operational warfighting techniques.   As Stellar presents realistic ballistic missile defense scenarios during the TTX, it is our job to facilitate thorough discussions among leaders and thus enhance warfighting knowledge.  We pride ourselves on achieving more understanding and awareness for the participants than they were expecting.

Stellar Solutions incorporates lessons learned and best practices from previous TTXs into subsequent events, and this year’s TTX concluded with extraordinary praise and thanks from the attendees.  One of the flag officers present even remarked that this was the “best ever” facilitated event he’d attended, inside or outside of the missile defense arena.

Recognized as a unique leader in the missile defense mission, Stellar Solutions delivers TTXs and Senior Leader Forums (SLFs) to numerous clients. This is just one example of a rewarding ongoing partner relationship.  Stellar Solutions’ TTX and SLF topics range from missile defense and cyber security to strategic planning and joint operations.  Offering a unique blend of senior expertise (Generals, Admirals, Ambassadors and Ph.D.’s) along with high-end systems engineering and science experts, Stellar Solutions is always focused on solving clients’ critical needs.

Aegis guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) transits the English Channel in early 2019. The Porter provides support and security for U.S. national security interests in Europe.

About the Author: Punch Moulton is Stellar Solutions’ Vice President for Defense Support and Cyber. He served as the team lead for the 2019 SFN TTX as well as their previous exercises. 

July 22, 2019.

On Friday July 19, 2019, Betsy J. Pimentel, Vice President, Defense Programs at Stellar Solutions, Inc. appeared on Yahoo Finance LIVE – Yfi AM, a nationwide web-based news program, to discuss the historic anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.  Betsy was asked about her perspective as a woman aerospace engineer, how the industry has evolved and where it is headed.  The story was at the top of the Yahoo Finance headlines website page on Saturday 7/20/19!

Watch this 3-minute clip to hear:

• How the proliferation of communications, video and audio technologies is changing the dynamics and landscape of space exploration and how this will lead to new discoveries.
• How the role of women has grown from the time when Stellar Solutions Founder and Board Chair Celeste Ford was one of the few women in the control center launching satellites, to today when female aerospace engineers are a vital component of the workforce.
• How the pursuit of a return to the moon and even Mars is energizing the next generation of aerospace engineers.