Tracking through the history of space sector management, a developing strategic direction can be discerned comprising four related movements:
Commercialisation:
The introduction of commercial enterprise to a sector previously characterized by state activity.
International Cooperation:
From inter-state rivalry to inter-state cooperation.
Utilization:
The move from an ideological philosophy to one of utility.
Paradigm Shift:
A major paradigm shift from the old ‘projects’ era to a new era of sustainable industry.
Strategic Direction
Strategic management utilizes the terms: vision, mission and strategic direction to describe and identify the central goals and purposes of organisation.
The strategic management process begins with vision and leads into mission and strategy. Vision can be a definite goal but is often abstract by necessity and is achieved through a series of objective definitions.
The term strategic direction refers to both the goal and the activity required to get there. It is a summation of the overall movement; our vector. As a generalisation it is usually absent from business plans.
Building a vision for the space sector depends first on the critical alignment of the four movements which have formed the beginnings of direction.
Commercialisation
The commercial development of space has always held great potential. The global economy would benefit greatly from a thriving commercial space sector and its integration with mainstream finances.
Beginning with the first commercial satellites, the commercialisation of the sector was a logical step. More projects, responsibilities and decisions are being handled by commercial space. For example the traditional aerospace companies and design bureaus that built space hardware and software for state projects are now providing launch services.
Decision making on programs and missions was always a state agency prerogative. A mainly deductive style existed with decisions on missions and programs emanating from executive office augmented by inductive feedback formulated by design bureaus and aerospace companies.
Decision making is now no longer the exclusive domain of civil space and has been picked up by the commercial sector. Dependent on success rates, market demand will have considerably more influence on decision making.
If the commercial sector moves decisively it will alleviate state entities of a great deal of financial and administrative pressures. The immediate goal is the correct development of the space industry and its integration with global, regional and national economies.
Private entrepreneurs as part of the ‘new space’ movement have pioneered low cost launch on a small scale and recent developments have seen government agency work handed to these private contractors. Space tourism; a concept explored by both mainstream and new space has a steady and lucrative market.
Amalgamations, sub-contracts, JV and takeovers should be expected among new space companies and between new and traditional aerospace firms.
International Cooperation:
In its origin, space activity was positioned as a test of military, technical and economic strength and a battle between competing political models. Several nations now have extensive space programs fuelling talk of a new race for space based resources.
However the concept of ‘race’ as witnessed in the race for ‘firsts’ is no longer relevant. There could be no end to the list of firsts if it continued. It can be clearly discerned that there is a movement away from inter-state rivalry to inter-state cooperation. Examples include the accommodation of multi-national crews on national space missions and at industry level with cross border aerospace firm collaboration. An outstanding example of cooperation and the utility that followed was commonality in the design of docking hatches used by the space shuttle (SST) and the Soyuz re-supply vessels to the ISS.
Space is a strategic sphere of operations and a highly sensitive one. With the dawn of aviation, military planners had a new dimension with which they could disregard conventional transport modes and strike opposing centers of gravity directly. The vantage point of space as a military and intelligence platform expands this dimension to a highly advanced level.
The main space faring nations are understandably cautious on these issues and agreements on space security will be highly complex. Commercial space ventures present further challenges and additional complexity to the security sector.
National space programs continue to maintain civil and military projects even as commercial projects flourish. Sovereignty and independence, political agenda, technology transfer and security issues require accurate alignment with inter-state cooperation.
Utilization
Realization of the cost of administration, projects and development has led to an examination of thoughts on space. Clearly, economics and utility has to prevail over ideology when it comes to decision making.
Mankind has a natural and understandable fascination with space. Placing a man, a machine or a flag on an extraterrestrial object is an incredible achievement and produces intense motivational value. Space colonies are considered by some philosophies to be a logical extension in the continuing development of the human race. The concepts of discovery, adventure and destiny have all been used to stress the need to explore the final frontier.
However the cost of space ventures dictates that they cannot be justified by ideological reasons alone. We don’t want to go to any piece of rock simply “because it’s there”.
Aviation began with the same wonder and elation as space exploration and included many ‘firsts’ in its infancy. However the greatest contribution of early aviation pioneers was the practical study of aerodynamics. Following this practical mindset aviation has now matured.
The concept of maturity has entered the minds of space professionals. Utility has been reflected in the purpose of individual projects. The space station concept provides a demonstration of practicality and sustainability. It provides a logical and practical reason for being; a space based platform for scientific experiment and industrial development. In addition, the continued use of an industrial supply chain is evident. The Soyuz and Space Shuttle Transport (SST) supply ships were designed as practical utility vehicles.
Paradigm Shift
The previous era of space endeavor can be characterized as a project or program based era pioneered primarily by the USA and former USSR. A series of experimental projects expanded the database and demonstrated the technical possibilities.
Individual programs in turn became the definitive purpose of the entire space effort at that point. Programs tended to encapsulate the vision and entire reason for being of the space sector.
Individual programs became more important than our overall ability to reach into space and once the programs were over the vision had to be rebuilt. Continuing to build visions around single programs is expensive and sets a false sense of direction.
The termination of programs leaves redundant staff and facilities; assets that should be kept functioning regardless of individual project and mission status. The problems run deeper than just the cost component. The planning and design of projects can take years and distract from the overall strategic direction for space.
There are still calls for vision to specify individual missions. Space endeavor will always contain numerous individual programs but a program is a single objective and should not be confused with overall vision or strategic architecture.
The paradigm change represents a shift in emphasis from the importance of individual programs to the importance of national and global space programs as a whole. The move to a sustainable space sector industry places the emphasis back on a viable industry. It focuses attention on building the industrial base rather than using the industrial base as a temporary platform for the current fashion.
The space sector consists of civil and commercial organisations whose work is primarily space related and this includes aerospace companies. The aerospace companies and design bureaus carry out a range of work including military and commercial aviation, naval and commercial shipping and extensive research.
The world is heavily dependent on space sector products. The aerospace industry is the foundation of the space sector and the major underlying structural component of the global supply chain. Sustaining and developing this industry is critical to space activity and the global economy. The absence of an integrated international commercial strategic direction points towards fragmentation, duplication of efforts and slow development. Finely coordinating the movements to develop strategic direction for the space sector is critical.
