The U.S. space community recognizes that America no longer holds a monopoly on space technology and must navigate a future in space crowded with new players. This shift has brought about an increase in threats directed at our space assets; therefore, our space and ground system architectures must maintain a high degree of resilience to ensure mission success. Resilience is defined as the ability to deliver the mission in the face of manmade or natural interference. Aerospace has developed a taxonomy that looks at the entire lifecycle of a system, with respect to its ability to meet mission requirements. This taxonomy is a framework that can adapt to new situations as new threats and potential countermeasures emerge. The formal taxonomy structure defines a trade space for resilience that includes mission requirements, threats, strategies, actions, enablers, system and architecture resilience needs, and metrics.

The space community favors different strategies, actions, and enablers depending on mission needs. The taxonomy accounts for mission, operational, and acquisition perspectives and highlights the breadth of resilience options to satisfy community needs. The application of the taxonomy allows the space community to conceive unique solutions that may not have otherwise been considered by developing multiple mitigating scenarios. Further analyses will then help define the nature of those preventive measures.