National Spacepower Center: Advancing US and Allied Spacepower

The Space Force Association recently announced the establishment of the National Space Center in December 2025, with the mission to better translate the space domain to government, academia, and industry leaders. The National Spacepower Center’s goal is to improve the understanding of the role of Spacepower in global stability, economic growth, and national security. 

Remember the Space Race? The rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to become the world’s space superpower led to the creation of NASA and how we understand the space domain today. What may not always be clearly understood is that it also established permanency in this domain. Beyond military applications such as missile warning systems and intelligence, we see the effects of it in everyday life, such as weather forecasting, GPS navigation, and the internet. 

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force in 2019 and the White House’s Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority in 2025 demonstrate America’s objective to strengthen its position as a global space superpower. The National Spacepower Center represents the next step.

"In 1937, then–Lt Col Curtis LeMay stunned the Navy by finding and ‘bombing’ the USS Utah in a fog bank, proving that Airpower wasn’t a supporting act, but rather a decisive force that could reach anywhere, anytime. 

In 2026, Operation Epic Fury serves as the backdrop for the same lessons on Spacepower. Long before the first bomber or fighter crossed into Iranian airspace, Guardians were blinding sensors, severing C2 networks, and feeding precision targets to every other component of the joint fight. If you strip away the space layer, the operation becomes slower, blinder, and far more costly in time, munitions, and risk to airmen, sailors, and soldiers. 

That is exactly why we have built the National Spacepower Center. It exists to make those invisible dependencies visible. To show senior leaders, legislators, and allies how every precision strike, secure communication, and missile warning is directly linked to Guardians and the architectures they operate. Just as the Utah exercise forced the services to rethink what Airpower meant for the battlefield, the current conflict in Iran, and NSpC's efforts to visualize and contextualize Spacepower, will help the nation rethink what it means to fight and win as a space‑enabled joint force." (Dillon “Brick” Cox, Chair, National Spacepower Center (NSpC) Committee)

The Space Force Association (SFA)

The Space Force Association operates independently as a nonprofit that supports the U.S. Space Force. Their vision is to encourage dialogue within the space community and share knowledge in support of their mission to achieve superior national space power as outlined in their paper. 

Part of these initiatives includes the NSpC and Global Space University. In partnership with the Space Force Association under the NSpC’s Space Education Training Center, ISR University offers online space training and certification programs. Future courses will be offered through Global Space University in addition to existing courses from ISR. Additionally, Sedaro was announced as their first industry partner supporting educational and strategic-analysis programs.

The SFA established the NSpC to achieve these core objectives:

• Inform government, military, and partner leaders about USSF missions and requirements in clear, accessible formats
• Educate users on the nature of space warfare and the value of space systems to national security
• Advance public and policymaker understanding of the Space Force mission and the legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks that support national spacepower
• Validate and experiment with policy, strategy, and organizational concepts in a safe, flexible, unclassified digital environment 

By bringing together expert leaders for cross-collaboration, they build an intellectual infrastructure that advances strategic outcomes related to areas of space operations, policy, warfare, economics, and more. According to the NSpC’s Fact Sheet, “The NSpC bridges this gap by creating a shared environment where government, industry, and academia can explore challenges, test ideas, and inform future spacepower decisions.”

SFA currently has chapters in Alabama, Arizona, New England-Boston, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Florida, Michigan, Texas, and the Western Region. 

Future of Spacepower

The future is looking like the Space Race 2.0, a term being coined across media, analysts, and government officials. But similarly, we see themes of military prestige and dominance, commercialization of space in private industries, and both defensive and warfighting space operations. In NASA’s recent update, their missions and initiatives are aligned with America’s National Space Policy, with plans to go back to the moon, which includes building a moon base, and preparations for future exploration.

The role of the NSpC will no doubt provide the platform needed to facilitate and accelerate shared knowledge. 

“Fundamental to and underlying all progress in the exploration and application of space is the knowledge to be gained from the space sciences.” (Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, National Security Files archives)

The message is consistently clear. Space superiority is the prime imperative and the U.S. plans to lead the way. Looking ahead in 2026, the NSpC plans to offer immersive modules, strategic wargaming, and interactive demonstrations, and concept-evaluation tools. As they are a nascent organization, we can expect to see exciting progress ahead.