It’s 2027. Chinese warships have encircled Taiwan. High above, China’s growing fleet of satellites track and target United States military forces across the Pacific. At the same time, an array of Chinese counterspace measures threaten to disrupt and severely degrade U.S. space capabilities essential to any military response.

Exciting start, right? But this isn't a paperback thriller, it's a real potential future — and one that, naturally, we want to avert. But how can we do so? That's the topic of a new opinion piece in Space News by Aerospace's CEO and President Steve Isakowitz.

Along with co-authors Ray Rothrock of FiftySix Investments and Randall Walden of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, Isakowitz explores how the U.S. has to start moving faster and deploying its legendary innovation culture to the purpose of maintaining American preeminence in space.

Achieving the speed needed to outpace threats in space and beyond will require putting real resources into new approaches...

Surging private investment in space has created opportunities for the government to buy at scale from new players like commercial start-ups and non-traditional national security companies. By fixing the way we enable and on-ramp their innovative capabilities into government missions , we can more rapidly acquire and deploy war-winning capabilities to the warfighter.

This will necessitate change, some of it difficult, but the good news is we're already doing a lot of what we need to — we just aren't doing enough. Isakowitz, Rothrock, and Walden write that we must double down on existing, successful commercial procurement processes, accelerate others by switching from prescriptive to descriptive problem solving, and build in flexibility and interoperability from the start.

But most importantly, these capabilities have to actually reach the end user — whether that's civilian, warfighter, or even back to the commercial realm.

The op-ed goes into considerably more detail, so check it out here. Or if you're at Space Symposium with us, pick up a paper copy and turn to page 18.