Leadership and Organization
COSMIC is led and facilitated by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), which provides funding for consortium logistics, operation, and management to execute activities that align to the ISAM National Strategy and National ISAM Implementation Plan, as well as priorities from the COSMIC Steering Committee.
Consortium Management Entity
COSMIC focuses on developing findings, non-binding recommendations, and products to encourage the maturation of ISAM capabilities into operational missions. It is operated by a consortium management entity and governed by a steering committee with a democratic process.
COSMIC is managed by a consortium management entity (CME) which executes day-to-day operations of the consortium under the strategic direction of the steering committee. The CME manages overall COSMIC operations, ensures coordination among the members (Industry, Government, and Academia), leads communication activities and events, provides focus area leads and coordination, facilitates the creation of community products, and provides administrative support. The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) contracted by NASA to operate the consortium, serves as the COSMIC CME.
Steering Committee
COSMIC is governed by a Steering Committee (SC) consisting of term-serving members selected from USG, Industry, and Academia, and provides strategic guidance to the CME regarding implementation, goals, and priorities. It is intended to represent a broad cross-section of member interests, so that each consortium member can identify one or more Steering Committee members that can represent their interests at the SC level. To achieve this goal, the SC includes a specific mix of participants with different expertise, experience, and motivations that play a specific role of ensuring all stakeholder needs are addressed equally.
Caucuses
COSMIC has three caucuses: U.S. government; industry; academia. These caucuses allow representatives from each market segment to communicate among themselves, identifying topics, products, needs, or ideas that are of particular importance to their market segment.
Stakeholders & Membership
COSMIC will bring together various government agencies, commercial industry, and academic researchers who focus on ISAM, and foster coordination and collaboration.
COSMIC is open to all U.S. organizations from the federal government, industry, academic research institutions, nonprofit, and not-for-profit organizations.
Membership to COSMIC is granted to participants who have a vested interest in strategic coordination towards US leadership in ISAM as an enabling technology and as a vehicle for workforce development. All COSMIC participants must be U.S. persons working for U.S.-based organizations. Each member is responsible for ensuring individual participants from their organization are U.S. persons per COSMIC requirements.
There are no dues or membership fees to join COSMIC; however, members cover their own time and travel expenses to participate in COSMIC events and working groups. Upon membership approval, COSMIC general members can sign up for one or more focus areas, where detailed discussions of specific topics are conducted. In addition, members can also sign up to be included on distribution lists for their appropriate caucus: government, industry, or academic.