The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration (SAF/SQ) has become the new sponsor for Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) as part of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) program.
DoD established the UARC in 1996 to build long-term strategic partnerships with university-affiliated nonprofit research organizations. Each UARC operates under a designated primary sponsor and focuses on core competencies – specialized areas of expertise essential to advancing the DoD’s engineering, research, and technology development priorities.
SDL was designated as one of the original six UARCs and was sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for many years. According to SDL, it will continue serving as a trusted UARC partner under Space Force sponsorship, supporting a broad range of missions across the Pentagon.
“SDL’s long-standing commitment to advance technologies for national defense reflects a deep alignment with SDL’s core competencies and the space mission of the Department of the Air Force,” Dr. Jed Hancock, president of SDL, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our close partnership with the Department of Defense delivering trusted research and technologies that secure our nation’s interests.”
As a UARC, SDL can be accessed by any DoD or approved government agency, subject to sponsor approval, maintaining its collaborative role across all branches of the armed forces.
A spokesperson for SDL told MeriTalk the sponsorship transition “formalizes SDL’s important partnership with the Space Force,” while emphasizing that the type of work performed will remain consistent. The lab will continue to operate within its core competencies, which have evolved over time to meet emerging national security challenges.
The lab’s research focuses on areas such as advanced sensing and systems, autonomous technologies, space mission design and operations, integrated command and control, modeling and simulation, and cyber and networked systems.