What is Preventing Space Mobility and Logistics from Taking Off?

This paper summarizes the results of a Senior Leader Round Table convened by the Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC). The roundtable focused on understanding the near- to mid-term impediments to bridging the gap between government needs and industry capabilities related to In-space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) and Space Mobility and Logistics (SML). The Round Table was held as a closed-door session to provide a venue for frank and open dialogue among senior leaders from the National Security Space (NSS) Community. COSMIC staff guided the discussion under the Chatham House Rule, which ensured a safe and confidential environment for sharing insights and perspectives. The findings of the Round Table can be summarized as follows: 1. ISAM as a broad set of capabilities is not aligned with National Security priorities where the term SML is more directly aligned; 2. The Dynamic Space Operations operating concept implies a U.S. Government need for in-space servicing, but the government has established neither a compelling use case nor an overarching architecture for in-space servicing, which prevents industry from responding appropriately; 3. U.S. leaders, outside of NSS, do not realize that the U.S. is not the world leader in space robotics; and 4. The NSS community has the mindset that proliferation will solve the resilience problem, but it is unlikely that all missions can use proliferated constellations, so some level of servicing may still be a viable course of action. The paper concludes with a set of recommended courses of action for COSMIC, the U.S. Government, and Industry.