Despite talks of moving the Space Force headquarters out of Colorado Springs, UCCS’ partnership with Space Force is just getting started through an aerospace engineering master’s program. 

Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump was vocal about reversing President Joe Biden’s decision to headquarter Space Force at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs and moving it to Huntsville, Alabama. Alabama Representative Mike Rogers told the Gazette he expects this decision to be one of the first Trump makes once he assumes office. 

The Space Force is responsible for protecting U.S. interests in space and providing national defense from space. This branch is meant to ensure U.S. space superiority over other countries. 

In 2021, UCCS joined Space Force’s University Partnership Program. According to Pete Gorder, chair of the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the partnership will provide easy access for Space Force members to enroll in the Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering, which was approved at the Board of Regents meeting in July and started being offered this semester. 

“One of the things [Space Force] have expressed a desire for was to have graduate education options for Space Force [for] both civilian and active military folks offered on our campus, and that was part of our justification for adding the Master of Science and Aerospace Engineering here,” Gorder said. 

According to Gorder, Space Force was not the only driving factor in establishing this master’s program. He said that the community at large in El Paso County has shown interest in sectors of both industry and government. Despite support, Gorder notes that there have not been any Space Force enrollees yet, mainly due to this being the first semester the master’s program was open. 

Gorder makes it clear that the process to add a master’s program was a long one on its own, and that there were other things in the way, citing construction on the new engineering building, budget logistics and coming out of the tail end of the pandemic all as factors that delayed an already long process. 

Gorder also noted that since Space Force is its own organization, there is an extra external amount of communication required that can affect efficiency. 

With the program in its youth, Gorder says it’s tough to say what the partnership will look like exactly in practice and how it benefits UCCS students. 

“There hasn’t been any clarity yet on that aspect of it … there’s a benefit to the campus from having that affiliation as a potential source for students who are affiliated with Space Force, but that UPP [University Partnership Program] hasn’t yet opened doors to provide opportunities for UCCS students to be involved with Space Force,” Gorder said. 

UCCS’ proximity to Space Force has also allowed for partnerships in research projects. Lynnane George, associate professor of teaching and manager of the space systems lab at UCCS, is working on three projects with undergraduate students in collaboration with Space Force. 

The first project, “Space Debris or Not?” works with the Space Force Tools, Application and Processing Lab to investigate space “debris” and ensure its debris rather than a foreign object.  

The second one, also partnered with the Space Force TAP lab, is a senior design project meant to determine if suspicious events in space are naturally occurring or if additional debris is generated.  

The third project is with Aerospace Corporation, who’s working with Space Force to analyze cybersecurity threats and attacks in an effort to prevent future attacks.  

These projects are funded by the Undergraduate Research Academy. There are no graduate projects because the program still needs funding from Space Force. George noted that there is currently no timeline on when that will happen.  

“We’re able to give our students projects to work on that otherwise they’d be working on something academic, which is great for, you know, academic purposes and getting grades, but when you give them something … where there’s an actual customer, then it’s even better, and very motivating and interesting for the students,” she said. 

The Anshutz Engineering Center is the home of the aerospace engineering program. Photo by Logan Cole.