Watch Space Force’s Lt. Gen. John Thompson speak on sourcing tech to secure space
Lt. Gen. John Thompson of the United States Space Force spoke at TC Sessions: Space earlier this week on the importance of working with startups. The general is the Commander of the Space and Missiles Systems Center, where he oversees research, design, development and acquisition of satellites and their associated command and control systems for the U.S. Space Force. His role puts him in direct contact with some of the most ambitious and innovative startups.
Gen. Thompson spoke extensively on the importance of working with American business, specifically startups, where he sees many producing innovative products that fit within Space Force’s missions. He gave tips on how startups can interact with Space Force.
1)
Join the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC). He describes it as “a purpose-built consortium that values partnerships between government, traditional industry partners, and non-traditional partners like academia, small businesses and startups” that’s grown to more than 440 members in three years.
At the end of the interview, Gen. Thompson notes that he’s working on expanding the deployment of SpEC’s funds to reach more “game-changing technologies that those non-traditional small businesses and startups are bringing to SpEC.
2)
Watch for Space Pitch Days. The next event is in the spring of 2021. These pitch days give startups an inside track to government contracts. Apparently, after the first event held with the Air Force, which Gen. Thompson hosted, contracts were offered within three minutes of the pitches.
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