2026 – 2027 COSMIC Elections: Candidate Statements
COSMIC Government Caucus Chair
Lt Col Alex Jehle serves as the Materiel Leader for On-Orbit Servicing, Mobility, and Logistics at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Assigned to Space System Delta 80, in the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space Access. Lt Col Jehle’s team procures and manages in-domain logistics solutions to close mission gaps, sustain space maneuver, extend the life of satellite vehicles; and furthers the applications of orbital maintenance to restore combat power in space.
Lt Col Jehle commissioned in the US Army in 2006, as a Quartermaster Officer. Over the course of his career, he has served in a diverse range of leadership positions and specialties including aerial delivery platoon Leader, maintenance company executive officer, forward support company commander, battalion S-3 operations officer, Army space support team leader, and chief of space operations.
Lt Col Jehle was assessed into the Space Force in August 2022 and assigned to Space Systems Command, as Deputy Branch Chief, Advanced Technology Division and selected as Materiel Leader for the Delta IV and Atlas V Launch Vehicles Engineering Team tasked with sunsetting the final flights of the two launch vehicles.
COSMIC Steering Committee Seat (Government):
Matias Cava is the National Space Policy Lead at the Office of Space Commerce’s Policy, Advocacy, and International Division. He focuses on domestic space policy issues, including efforts to reform U.S. regulatory systems and address “mission authorization” for novel space activities.
Matias comes to OSC from the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, where he worked as an attorney on launch and re-entry licensing and regulation. He also spent two years as part of the team working on The Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations. During his time as a law student, he also had the opportunity to work as a law clerk at the FCC Space Bureau.
Matias received his undergraduate degree from McGill University. He holds a law degree from the University of Nebraska with a concentration in Space, Cyber, and National Security Law.
I would be honored to be able to continue to serve COSMIC on the Steering Committee. I am most likely the longest tenured DOW employee working to advance ISAM capabilities and hope to be able to continue to bring my broad experience base to benefit COSMIC. At the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), I began working on the underlying technology that is launching this summer as the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program in 2002. I have been working to advance ISAM capabilities continuously ever since. Working with DARPA and other funding sponsors, I have participated in over a dozen detailed mission concept developments, working within national security and civil space, alongside U.S. commercial industry and academia. I have directly contributed to the White House OSTP Development of the ISAM National Strategy and Implementation Plan. I support the WH OSTP Microgravity R&D Interagency Working Group representing ISAM capabilities and have directly supported the GAO July 2025 ISAM study. At NRL, I serve as the Superintendent of the Spacecraft Engineering Division and as the long-term Acting Director for the Naval Center for Space Technology. As such I have substantial influence into USN IR&D funding for ISAM topics and can help align that investment with both National Security Space needs and the broader COSMIC community. I will continuously strive to ensure that the capabilities, facilities and expertise developed at NRL can benefit the broad COSMIC community.
COSMIC Academia Caucus Chair
Hello All, I’m Chris Petersen, an assistant professor at University of Florida, and I go by Chrispy (e.g. Chrispy-crème, Chrispy-chicken, etc).
As AC chair, there are three aspects I would like to focus on for the coming year: communication, accessibility, and transparency, all towards increasing opportunities for members of the AC.
From a communication perspective, I would like to increase the conversations (1) within the AC and (2) between the AC and other committees (industry, gov’t, etc). This goes beyond having individual members sit on committees, but also joint, open, and continuous dialogues. Slack can assist with this, and I am open to other ways. In addition, I would like to enable a better spotlight on the research being done in across AC, working out other methods via the COSMIC PR committee. This naturally leads to a goal of increasing the AC accessibility to relevant discussions and pertinent calls/opportunities. The COMSIC marketplace is one aspect to get the word on collaboration opportunities, but I would like to ensure more frequent communication for conferences, workshops, spur-of-the-moment talks, and scoped discussions in COSMIC with other committees. This then leads to increasing transparency in discussions and outcomes. When meetings happen with the AC and other committees, I would like to ensure that these minutes have tangible items so that AC members can see how they fit in. When decisions need to be made, the AC should be informed and have their opinions known. This will necessitate a team of people, not just me. I would like to figure out a paradigm where responsibilities in the AC can be delegated. Ultimately, the entire AC should be able to drive a desired direction.
Overall I would like to increase the opportunity for the AC to interact with gov’t and industry, whether that be through research, transition of technology, or just conversation.
COSMIC Steering Committee Seat (Academia):
I am seeking nomination to the COSMIC Steering Committee to continue contributing to the consortium’s strategic growth and technical vision. Over the past year, as Chair of the Academia Caucus, I have worked to strengthen engagement across academia, industry, and government while advancing initiatives in in-space assembly and manufacturing. In particular, I spearheaded the development of the consortium’s journal and special issue initiative, bringing together stakeholders across multiple organizations to help establish a long-term publication roadmap for the field. Through these efforts, I have gained experience in coalition-building, technical coordination, and community development that I believe would allow me to contribute effectively at the Steering Committee level.
COSMIC Industry Caucus Chair
The ISAM ecosystem will not reach its potential through parallel silos; it will get there through a commercial ecosystem that actually works together. As Industry Caucus chair, my priority is to shift the caucus from a forum for updates into an collaboration engine, connecting members across the supply chain, surfacing shared problems worth solving collectively, and building the participation structures within COSMIC that make cross-company coordination natural rather than exceptional. The commercial sector is ready to make ISAM routine. The caucus should be the place where that happens and messaging its accomplishments to shift the space supply chain paradigm beyond launch.
COSMIC Steering Committee Seat (Industry):
My name is Troy M. Morris, and I appreciate your review of the COSMIC Steering Committee candidates, of which I find myself lucky enough to be considered for the 2026-2028 term. Greetings to the many wonderful people we get to work with in our industry, and if we have not yet had the pleasure to meet, I hope to get that opportunity soon, as I aim to be elected to represent our shared interests through the good work of COSMIC. Currently, I serve as a Co-Founder & CEO for KMI Space, an in-space logistics company established in 2019, building “”tow trucks for space”” with technical demonstrations of the REACCH mechanical tentacle end effector on the ISS in 2024-2025 following contracts with the USSF, USAF, and NASA. I do not come from a ‘traditional’ aerospace background, leveraging my lifelong passion for all things space (from enjoying sci-fi to researching why there are stripes on Armstrong’s suit) alongside my psychology education and commercial experience with critical industry before founding our company. Together with my co-founders and our growing team, we’ve established new technologies, novel demonstrations, and engaged across industry, academia, and government in our own states, across this great country, and with many international partners. While long-running CONFERS participants, it was my pleasure to join the familiar folks of Aerospace and NASA during the opening announcement for COSMIC.
Since the standup of COSMIC, KMI has continued to stay involved in various committees, activities, and products alongside our own growth from theoretical to practical applications of ISAM. As I share with our hardworking team, “”any millions of dollars and amazing missions mean little if we don’t improve the world along the way,”” a message I intend to carry into my service when elected to the COSMIC Steering Committee. Together we can leverage the excellent experience across our industry, while allowing the opportunity for insight from educators, scholars, and innovators, and collaborate with our government partners to chart the coming years as a continued foundation for our industry. The next few years are critical, and the various missions, numerous milestones, and many-many-many meetings to get there are for good reason; to increase the access, mobility, and understanding of space. Thank you, and I appreciate your vote and confidence.
Delta Infinite exists to build the physical infrastructure that makes a sustained orbital and cislunar industrial economy possible — starting at the most under-specified link in that chain: pre-stabilization of non-cooperative tumbling targets. I’m Kai Cahlil, the founder. I’ve been working toward this vision since 2012 and founded the company in 2022, relocating to Colorado to embed in its aerospace ecosystem. The work is grounded in near-term debris removal and capture economics, but the horizon it serves is decades long.
If elected to an Industry seat, I’ll contribute the perspective of a founder operating with a long time horizon: how technical dependencies in the near term compound into infrastructure constraints in the far term, how pre-Seed companies translate component innovation into government-readable capability, and how the community can structure its priorities to make sure the foundational layers are in place before they’re needed. COSMIC’s work to articulate where OOS is going decades out is one of the most important things this consortium does. I’d like to help do it.
Dennis Wille is a Senior Director for national security business development for Astroscale U.S. and has been in this role for just over two years. Astroscale U.S. is an on-orbit services company that specializes in the rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) technologies necessary for two spacecraft to physically interact in a safe and reliable way. Outside of human spaceflight, it is currently uncommon for two spacecraft to dock, but the demand signal for on-orbit servicing missions is beginning to increase in tangible ways. As a member of the Astroscale U.S. team, Dennis enjoys being a part of the growing conversation about the future of on-orbit servicing and the many missions and capabilities that it will unleash.
Prior to joining Astroscale U.S., Dennis served as an active-duty member of the United States Army. He retired in the spring of 2024 having completed 29 years of service. In the Army, Dennis specialized in space operations primarily focused on how satellites enhance the Army’s ground combat operations. Before becoming a space officer, Dennis was a tank officer and he brings both skill sets to his role at Astroscale U.S. by emphasizing to audiences the role that logistics brings to the evolution of both the national security space enterprise but also to the broader space economy.
COSMIC needs engaged individuals in leadership who will realize the potential for advancing the connectivity between government and industry. We all know COSMIC has great potential and we have only just now begun to realize it.
In the last year, I have ran multiple product initiatives on research papers, databases, standards, and education. I’m looking forward to providing more support to your companies and enrich the future of the ISAM sector.