The Fuel for the Next Generation of Cislunar Exploration? Technology and Talent.
After NASA astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, their achievement bore decades' worth of fruit, including scientific discoveries and a strategic national security advantage.
Now - with plans to revisit the moon and eventually Mars - the United States is counting on a return.
"I am often asked why we send our astronauts into such a harsh, dangerous, unforgiving environment as space or the lunar surface and at such great cost," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a May press conference. "We go for the technology we will pioneer to get there, the science and all we might learn that will make life better back on Earth … and to be very clear, to master the skills for where we will inevitably go next."
It's a grand vision: accelerate and expand cislunar exploration as bedrock for a booming cislunar economy, the yields from which will improve life on Earth and fuel a new era of deep-space missions and strategic national security advantage.
"Making that dream a reality will require commercial partners that have proven experience, advanced technology and skilled workers. That formula can help the United States maintain its competitive advantage in space," said John Troeltzsch, Exploration Architect at BAE Systems.
"We are in a global competition, and we need to address that," Troeltzsch said. "Other countries have well-stated goals and an aggressive timeline that they're following to accomplish them. It's exciting to see our customers match that tempo and set forth on a U.S. program to go explore the moon."
Although there are a variety of spacecraft going into low Earth orbit and "doing awesome things there," cislunar exploration demands a different, deeper level of experience and expertise, Troeltzsch said. He added that BAE Systems has a strong background of support on space missions, including assisting the development of novel technologies that are best situated to lead the cislunar revolution.
"If you look at our successes and the methodical ways we've perfected our approach to the required engineering and science, we're really well positioned to move into cislunar space," Troeltzsch said.
He cited past missions to which BAE Systems contributed. This includes the Deep Impact spacecraft that probed the surface of a comet in 2004; the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling Mars since 2006; the Kepler Space Telescope, which confirmed 2,662 exoplanets outside the solar system since 2009; the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful telescope launched to space; and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launching August 2026, that will help astronomers to unlock the mysteries of the universe, answering high-priority scientific questions related to the evolution of the universe and the habitability of planets around other stars.
"We've got that proven heritage, but we're also pushing the envelope in terms of what we're capable of doing to enable more challenging missions in the future," said Christie Bertels, BAE Systems' Director of Civil Space Business Development.
That partnership - proven experience on the one hand and new capabilities on the other - is what's driving offerings like the AscentTM spacecraft, the newest addition to BAE Systems' ElevationTM product line. Designed to support dynamic space operations through advanced maneuverability capabilities, including refueling and high-thrust propulsion, it can carry multiple rideshare payloads in support of exploration missions.
"We help our customers take things from the Earth to the moon, whether that be a satellite that we're going to put in orbit around the moon or a payload that might be taking high-resolution pictures of it," Troeltzsch said.
He also highlighted spectral imaging solutions such as the instrument suites BAE Systems is developing for University of Colorado's L-CIRiS and NASA's LunarVISE missions.
"We took what we already knew how to build, and we figured out how to adapt it to operate on the surface of the moon," Troeltzsch said of L-CIRiS and LunarVISE.
New cislunar environments come with new operational challenges. "When you think about day-to-day operations on a moon base, you need some level of autonomy," Troeltzsch said. "That requires more computing and really good communications back to Earth."
That, in turn, requires exceptional talent. Bertels and Troeltzsch said high-demand skills include not only autonomy and machine learning, but also software development, engineering, and - to help next-generation spacecraft maneuver through the inner solar system - astrodynamics, to name a few.
"We're trying to solve the biggest problems we've ever tried to solve in space. To do that successfully, you need systems-level thinking experts across disciplines," Bertels said. "Space companies who hire engineers and technicians also need to hire business experts, scientists and marketing and communications people. Cislunar exploration is a cross-functional problem, and you need to be able to approach that problem holistically. So, we at BAE Systems are hiring!"
The company is recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds - including early- and mid-career professionals from automotive and other sectors who have not previously worked in aerospace, but who bring specialized skills and unique points of view.
To help those new employees succeed in a new industry, BAE Systems offers opportunities for training, education and mentorship. Perhaps even more important, however, company leaders say it offers a meaningful mission and a compelling sense of purpose.
"One of the things I've really loved about working at BAE Systems is the culture," Troeltzsch said. "It's more than just a job. It's a chance to solve problems that have never been solved. It's a chance to work on something that will be landing on the moon in a year. That's pretty exciting."
Bertels agreed.
"For me, it harkens back to the Apollo era. There's just so much opportunity right now. For a new person coming into this company or this industry, it's impossible not to be inspired. We're building things that will help the United States take the next big leap in space and send humans to Mars someday. When you come through the doors, you're going to have opportunities immediately to impact that work."
We provide some of the world's most advanced, technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions. From developing, manufacturing and deploying state-of-the-art, radiation-hardened products for use in defence, space, intelligence, research and commercial missions to our first multi-sensing multi-satellite cluster that will deliver a more complete intelligence picture directly to end users, we have always been at the forefront of space technology.
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