About COSMIC

What is COSMIC?

The Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC) is a nationwide coalition that will invigorate a domestic in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capability.

  • COSMIC will mobilize, advance, and leverage the existing and future community expertise spanning federal agencies, industry and academia.
  • COSMIC’s goal is to accelerate the universal adoption of ISAM capabilities to develop the next generation of the space architectures and make ISAM a routine part of the space enterprise.
  • COSMIC is NASA’s swift and strategic response to the December 2022 National ISAM Implementation Plan and officially kicked-off in the Fall of 2023.
  • COSMIC, through community collaboration, will produce annual products that steer the future of ISAM as a coordinated effort towards a new paradigm for space mission lifecycles that will ultimately reduce costs and increase operational efficiency due to enhanced longevity, utility, and resilience.

COSMIC’s Vision: Create a nationwide alliance that enable the U.S. space community to provide global leadership in ISAM.

COSMIC’s Mission: Enabling the transition of ISAM to utilization, so that it becomes a routine part of space architectures and mission lifecycles.

COSMIC Overview Presentation

National Imperative

On April 4, 2022, the White House released a national strategy for how the United States will invigorate a domestic in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing capability. In December 2022, the National ISAM Implementation Plan was released in response to the ISAM National Strategy and provides an interagency implementation plan to guide the activities of the U.S. Government in addressing ISAM challenges.

The strategy and implementation plan define six strategic goals that build on existing investments and emerging capabilities and chart a course for using a national approach to realize the opportunities enabled by ISAM. 

The six strategic goals are:

  1. Advance ISAM research and development
  2. Prioritize the expansion of scalable ISAM infrastructure
  3. Accelerate the emerging ISAM commercial industry
  4. Promote international collaboration and cooperation to achieve ISAM goals
  5. Prioritize environmental sustainability as we move forward with ISAM capabilities
  6. Inspire a diverse future workforce as a potential outcome of ISAM innovation

The Implementation Plan calls for a national consortium to improve communication between government, industry, and academia. 

The COSMIC consortium will assemble stakeholders, including Federal agencies, universities, non-profit research institutions, existing ISAM organizations, non-traditional providers, and commercial companies – particularly the space start-up community – to assess ISAM opportunities and needs.  The consortium will incentivize industry collaboration and encourage the adoption of open standards as appropriate.