Mission and Vision

Mission

In partnership with NASA, other government agencies, educational institutions and commercial aerospace corporations, the SOI provides resources and services to the NASA and aerospace community for the advancement of scientific discovery resulting in a pipeline of college educated engineering personnel with applicable hands-on experience to meet the workforce needs of the aerospace industry.

Vision: Educating for the Future

Primarily, the SOI develops graduates with hands-on operations experience, skills and knowledge that will support NASA space operations programs and needs in areas including satellite operations and the development, maintenance and engineering support of satellite ground control systems. The Institute provides the academic infrastructure to develop knowledge necessary to manage satellite operations and to support an educational program that prepares students for careers as generalists in space mission operations through partnerships with NASA/GSFC, industry, education and Capitol College.

Supporting the Capitol College Astronautical Engineering Review Board and recommending updates and changes to the Astronautical Engineering Program to ensure relevancy regarding changing technology and the greater aerospace community educational requirements is also a focus of the program.

The SOI builds upon Capitol's established engineering foundation and works closely with NASA to understand the aerospace industry's changing skill requirements. The following are the primary goals for the SOI:

1. Educate students in the academic and practical applications of space based knowledge and systems.
2. Provide a forum for the sharing of academic and engineering best practices in support of satellite missions. Establish a relationship with industrial partners to provide students with internships, scholarships, and work-study opportunities.
3. Continuously broaden our technical and managerial capabilities, document all processes and procedures and seek new intern training opportunities with Government, Industry and Education Partners.
4. Maintain a state of the art Satellite Mission Operations Center in the McGowan Academic Center to conduct new mission ground system design, development, test and operations.
5. Involve Capitol College faculty and staff to provide a source of college educated personnel prepared for a career in satellite operations, systems engineering and associated technical fields.