INTEGRATION AND IMPLICATION OF SPACE EDUCATION AT THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY

Space competency is critical to winning our future wars. Over the past 60 years, the United States Navy (USN) has played an essential role as an active enabler of space-based capabilities. In this day and age, when adversaries continue to mature their own space capabilities to deny U.S. capabilities, further developing space-based systems for Naval and Marine Corps operations is imperative. While the USN’s professional Naval Space Cadre has grown in numbers and improved its proficiency in recent years, the USN must invest in space support to the warfighter in order to increase space-based fleet training that will strengthen the cadre as well as the end users. This thesis identifies gaps in the space-based education that is being provided to the Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. This study finds that the United States Naval Academy needs to increase awareness of the Navy and Marine Corps’ reliance on space-based systems, and to emphasize the growing need for space professionals, through education. Expanding curricula to Midshipmen on space-based systems and operations could be the key to enhancing the Navy Space Cadre for the future and protecting warfighters.http://archive.org/details/integrationandim1094559681Captain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited