Space Development Agency director leaves post for academia

Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear is stepping down from his position at the agency to be Auburn University’s new director of space innovation.

SDA’s deputy director, Gurpartap Sandhoo, will lead the agency in an acting capacity.

Tournear has been at the helm of SDA since 2019, overseeing much of the agency’s early work to define what is now the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — a constellation of hundreds of missile warning and tracking and data transport satellites.

The leadership transition comes as SDA approaches a key milestone: proving the viability of its concept for a proliferated satellite constellation that is continuously updated on a two-year cycle as technology and threats evolve.

SDA launched its first satellites, dubbed Tranche 0, in 2023, and has been demonstrating the ability to track missile launches and share data among satellites, with ground operators and recently with moving aircraft via laser communication links. Later this week, the agency is slated to launch its next batch of satellites, Tranche 1, which will build on that work and provide a baseline operational capability.

In a LinkedIn post Monday, Tournear said his tenure overseeing the innovative agency’s growth was “a tumultuous journey.”

“At the time of SDA’s establishment, many thought that [proliferated low Earth orbit, or pLEO] was a terrible idea,” he said. “Convincing detractors of the virtues offered by pLEO was not easy, but through several major wins, the tide shifted. Now, SDA is not alone pushing for pLEO; this concept has been adopted and advocated by the Space Force at large, and incorporated into almost every mission area.”

In an interview with Breaking Defense, Tournear said that in his new position with Auburn, he’ll be helping build up the university’s space education and research ecosystem, adding that the role fell into his lap.

Sandhoo joined SDA in July and was previously the vice president and chief architect at Quantum Space and director for emerging technologies at Northrop Grumman. He also served as deputy director at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency and was the head of the spacecraft engineering division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

SDA’s Chief Program Officer Michael Eppolito will serve as acting deputy director.

Space Development Agency director leaves post for academia

C4ISRNet