Lockheed’s Rick Ambrose Talks Responsive Space, Additive Manufacturing

Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin’s space business, has said the U.S. and the U.K. implement “very similar strategies” when it comes to securing rapid and cheaper space access, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

His remarks at a separate news event Tuesday came a day after the U.K. space agency awarded Lockheed a potential $31 million contract to provide support for the country’s spaceflight program that aims to establish a commercial launch market that will provide regular access to space.

“As the U.K. develops its space industry further, I think you’ll see bigger economics from the mini-satellites and the value they create from data, from science and from military missions,” Ambrose said.

He also shared his views on large geosynchronous orbit satellites, small satellites, responsive space and additive manufacturing.

“That is how I bring small and large, and converge in a way that I can use many similar manufacturing techniques,” Ambrose, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, said of additive manufacturing.