Status Quo

"The committee recommends that representatives from relevant government agencies,the aerospace industry, including the emerging private sector and the academic community work together to develop a coordinated national strategy to ensure an effective aerospace workforce ecosystem."

from Building a Better NASA Workforce: Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration, THE NATIONAL ACADEMIC PRESS, 2O07

Center Objective

To regain its competitive edge, the U.S. space industry needs to return to a paradigm that demands – and produces – innovation. Such a program would break the status quo and lead to faster product delivery, greater functionality, increased cost-effectiveness, and “smart” risk-tolerance. The Advanced Space Technologies Research & Engineering Center (ASTREC) breaks this status quo, offering the space industry a paradigm for innovation. 

ASTREC’s R&D focuses on transformative technologies that have the overall objective of developing innovative solutions for enhancing the utility of small satellites. ASTREC's research thrusts align with the typical spacecraft subsystems shown. The interconnectivity of these subsystems with the payload, demands that a concurrent design philosophy be utilized in order to achieve the best overall system performance. 

To implement the center’s application specific R&D philosophy, ASTREC will initially focus on missions related to space weather, but is not limited to only those missions. The technology push must be an enabler for systems of heterogeneous satellites and shall go beyond what may be achievable with current systems.

Objective

ASTREC aims to provide leading-edge research that is industry-driven to produce integrated, concurrent small satellite design including technology development, fabrication, verification, validation and technology transfer. The objective is to provide improvements in time to orbit, lower cost, maximum flexibility in design accommodation, and performance. If interested in joining this game-changing research organization that brings together faculty, students, industry, and governmental organization contact one of the Directors. ASTREC's prospectus and reasons to join can be accessed through the highlighted links.

Vision

ASTREC’s vision is to become a leading research, education, and training resource for the space industry with the stated purpose of developing and validating innovative space technologies that

  • Offers the space industry a responsive, cost effective approach to space exploration and utilization.
  • Educates the next generation of "rocket scientists" through its educational efforts.
  • Provides the space industry an avenue for transforming its culture from risk averse to risk tolerant through its validated innovations.

ASTREC utilizes an application specific philosophy for its R&D activities; i.e., its research efforts (both fundamental and applied) are relevant to the needs of the space industry and address improvements in cost, schedule and/or performance.

ASTREC is an I/UCRC

  • An I/UCRC (Industry/University Cooperative Research Center) is a National Science Foundation program to develop a long-term partnership between academia, industry, and government.
  • Founded in 1981 with over 50 centers nationwide
  • NSF's funds leveraged through partnerships with industry and government
  • I/UCRCs have greater than 80% success rates
  • For more information, visit the NSF's website.