The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center, was created in 1960 to ensure independent technical and scientific research, development, and advisory services to government and civil customers with the aim of assuring 100-percent mission success.  This seminar will describe the fundamentals of the nonprofit corporation, provide an overview of the Air Force space programs and their architectures, present a historical glimpse into the National Reconnaissance Organization’s space enterprise, discuss the vectors of the space commercial marketplace, and conclude with the innovative research areas defining the next generation of space systems.  While covering the space enterprise, the seminar will focus on the geospatial intelligence mission area and the critical architectural level trades required as we move to the future.

Bio:

Kevin D. Bell is the General Manager of the Imagery Programs Division in the National Systems Group which provides cradle to grave technical support covering requirements definition, conceptual design, architecture development, modeling and simulation, spacecraft acquisition / built / integration / test, launch and early on-orbit satellite operations, and product exploitation for national technical means space systems.

Prior, to his current position, Bell was the General Manager of the Systems Engineering Division in the Engineering Technology Group. He supported a broad array of Aerospace customers with requirements definition, vehicle and architecture design, modeling and simulation, mission assurance, space system acquisition, and space object tracking.

He has extensive research and development, systems engineering, acquisition, and program management experience with the USAF, NRO, NASA, MDA, and our commercial customer base. He developed the concurrent engineering methodology for satellite design and worked with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the creation of their Preliminary Design Center. He has applied these design tools to a wide array of launch and satellite systems. He has worked in the laboratory developing the opto-mechanical control systems necessary for large deployable optics and active cryogenic thermal control systems. He has utilized his system engineering and architecting skills for MILSATCOM, GPS, Radar, Teledesic, Spacebased Laser, Relay Mirror, Spacebased Infrared Systems, Tactical Imaging constellation studies, NRO collection systems, and the integration of the Ballistic Missile Defense Systems.

Bell joined The Aerospace Corporation in 1992 as a Member of the Technical Staff in the ETG Vehicle Systems Division. He has had increasing responsibilities including almost seven years in Albuquerque that began in 1995, where he served as Director, Space and Directed Energy Technology Directorate. His tour in Washington began in 2002 at the Missile Defense Agency headquarters. In 2005, he joined the Advanced Technology Division supporting the NRO, and later served as the Principal Director, GEOINT Development Office within the Imagery Programs Division.

Prior to joining Aerospace, Bell held various positions with the University of California, Silicon Graphics, NASA Ames, BF Goodrich De-Icing Group, BF Goodrich Aerospace Research & Development Group, Stanford University, and Aerojet Techsystems.

Bell earned B.S. degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautical Sciences at the University of California at Davis. He also holds an M.S. degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University.