CEO of government space contractor Stellar Solutions Celeste Ford (pictured) started the Silicon Valley-based aerospace consulting firm in 1995 | Courtesy of Celeste Ford Space Force could 'distract' military space mission, CEO warns The head of Stellar Solutions also outlines the challenges for smaller space companies to compete.

Standing up a military Space Force could “distract” the military from its space mission and spark a long and messy bureaucratic reorganization, according to the CEO of government space contractor Stellar Solutions.

Celeste Ford says the historic reshuffling of the space mission recently ordered by President Donald Trump could take up much of the attention of her clients like the Pentagon's National Reconnaissance Office.


“I don’t know if it’ll impact me as much as it will distract my customer who is being reorganized,” she told POLITICO.

Ford started the Silicon Valley-based aerospace consulting firm in 1995. The company already works with a number of clients who could be part of a new Space Force, including U.S. Space Command and the NRO, as well as NASA and the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Ford, an engineer who previously did stints and COMSAT and The Aerospace Corporation, urged those taking on the reorganization to make sure the agencies buying the satellites are working seamlessly with those who will need to use the data they collect, noting that agencies that use similar hardware have very different missions.

“NRO, DOD and NASA could all have satellites that take pictures. At NASA, the scientist will look at it, DOD is the warfighter, and NRO is the analyst. So how they use the data is very different, even though you could say they're similar procurements,” she said.

“What you don’t want to do is make it any more difficult for the person using the information from the satellite to get what they want how they want it quickly.”

Ford also talked about what challenges she faces as a small business working with the government, why "lowest price technically acceptable" contracts don’t work for jobs that need skilled workers and how she keeps her company agile even as it grows.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you start Stellar Solutions and what are the core missions of the company?

I had worked as an engineer in all different sectors of aerospace. First, I was in international communications satellites, then I worked in defense satellites, then I worked on the space shuttle. I had seen space from a lot of different angles, but had also seen large, blobby organizations that get bureaucratic.

I decided it was just better to start a company where the whole focus is on critical needs and having high impacts...On day one, our vision was we satisfy our customers’ critical needs while realizing our dream jobs. It’s that simple...If you wake up in the morning and you’re doing something really important and cool and you love it, it just doesn’t get any better than that.

I initially never wanted the company to be bigger than 50 people so it wouldn’t become bureaucratic...but that has not happened and we’re in our 24th year. We still feel like a small scrappy startup.

What makes us different is how we’re organized...The five points of the star are intelligence, defense, civil, commercial and international. Where we’re different is we craft the boundaries. I worked for these different companies prior to starting my own where you’re told what you’ll work on...There was no one place where you could move around and work on a defense project, then switch to a commercial project. It just wasn’t done that way.

Who are some of your customers?

In the intelligence sector, our biggest customer is the [National Reconnaissance Office]...They build all the cloaked spy satellites. That's our largest group.

In the defense sector, our primary customer would be U.S. Space Command and Space and Missile Systems Center. They build all the Air Force, weather, missile warning, and GPS satellites. Our third group is also government but it’s civil. That’s NASA primarily and NOAA.

On the commercial point, we have the usual suspects in old space and new space.

Any unique challenges you face as a space startup working with the government?

It’s really hard to get on contract. When you’re a small business, it’s even harder because there’s this tendency in the government to gravitate toward bundling into big procurements and using the lowest price, technically acceptable contract.

LPTA was created for jet fuel, not human beings. This isn’t something where cheaper is better, because good engineers will go where they’re paid well.

But the government is a great partner...Overall I think once you are in working with the government and you do a good job, it’s a great customer to have.

One thing that would impact us the most would be the creation of a Space Force...I would say the most important thing is to have the closest possible coupling between the people who use the data coming from a satellite and the people who are buying the satellite. If you do that well, you solve both organization and acquisition problems that cause all these discussions because it takes too long.

NRO, DOD and NASA could all have satellites that take pictures. At NASA, the scientist will look at it, DOD is the warfighter, and NRO is the analyst. So how they use the data is very different, even though you could say they're similar procurements. What you don’t want to do is make it any more difficult for the person using the information from the satellite to get what they want how they want it quickly.

Will the creation of a Space Force have any direct impact on your business?

We’re working on programs that will not go away...GPS is not going to go away, imaging satellites are not going to go away.

If the programs line up under a Space Force, I don’t know if it’ll impact me as much as it will distract my customer who is being reorganized, that sort of thing.

The space budgets right now are probably the healthiest they’ve been since 9/11. This administration has made space a centerpiece...So I feel like space is in a healthy position right now and...the thrust needs to be how can you improve the integration of all these systems we’re buying and make it better for people who use the data.

What makes things slow and hard is bundling more and more together for longer times, which leads to protest after protest. If you’re going to lose a contract and there won’t be another one for five years, you’ve got to protest. Being a small business in systems engineering, to me it’s very easy to break those apart into focused bite-sized chunks.

What is your lobbying operation focused on right now?

We don’t have a lobbying thing at all at Stellar. We do congressional visits just as a small business in areas where we’re working...we proactively go into the offices of the congressional people on the committees that fund the programs we’re working on to give them another voice. We tell them, ‘I’m a small business, I’m working on this program, we have people in your district working on your program.’ We just do that as engineers as an additional duty when we’re there. We don’t advocate for any particular company.

What are your top issues for Congress in these meetings?

Getting rid of contract bundling is a top priority, and instead doing more small contracts awarded directly to small businesses. Sole source contracts should be ok if they’re warranted. And getting completely rid of the [Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable] criteria where you drive everything to be lowest price.

There aren’t a lot of women in top positions in space. What has your experience been and what can the community do to bring in more women?

It’s a lot better than it was, but you can always do more. I always say, you know there will be true equality when you see mediocre women at the top. Now, you see more women, but they’re a lot of superstars.

I don’t know that I ever focused on women versus men because it’s not tennis. We don’t have separate ladders, we all work together. I went to college at University of Notre Dame, which had just transitioned to let in women and I was the only woman in the aerospace program, so when I entered the workforce, maybe I’d been trained that this was what it looked like. I never really got hung up on it.