CHANTILLY, VA – In a couple of weeks, the AIAA community will take discussions about building our off-world future and securing the high ground of space into a classified setting.
AIAA’s inaugural ASCEND 2026 Classified Day, planned for Monday, 18 May at The Aerospace Corporation’s corporate headquarters in Chantilly, VA, comes at a time of intense transformation in the U.S. space community. This unique, closed-door session at AIAA’s premier space event will bring executive‑level insights at the top-secret level to address evolving global competition and pressing challenges in the national security space domain.
Headlining the event with a keynote address and Q&A session is National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Director Chris Scolese. Other notable speakers include:
- Tanya Pemberton, President and CEO, The Aerospace Corporation
- Maj. Gen. Brook Leonard, USAF (Ret.), CEO, Rogue Space Systems
- Col. Dean Bellamy, USAF (Ret.), Executive Vice President, National Security Space, Redwire
- Brad Edmonson, Senior Intelligence Officer for Analysis, HQ Space Force S2A
- Aaron Rogers, Director of Requirements & Capabilities, Mission Solutions, and Payloads, RTX
“Aerospace serves the national interest and brings the creativity, foresight, and technical excellence to make space work,” said Kevin Bell, senior vice president of Aerospace’s Engineering and Technology Group and ASCEND Guiding Coalition member. “Our partnership with AIAA for this inaugural classified day provides the technical community an opportunity to tackle some of those front-burner classified challenges and solve the hardest technical problems in space today.”
Additional speakers from the U.S. government, space industry, and investor community will be announced as they are confirmed. The program will address assured access, adversary counterspace capabilities, and the integration of commercial space in support of U.S. national security objectives.
In addition to hosting the classified program, The Aerospace Corporation – an AIAA Corporate Member, ASCEND event partner, and Guiding Coalition contributor – will run a unique interactive rapid ideation exercise, dialing up critical thinking and creativity in solving classified enterprise challenges for national imperatives involving production and supply chain issues, AI/ML for space, and U.S. leadership on the moon.
“The stakes are incredibly high for the U.S. space community, and our AIAA members deliver the technical know-how and workforce excellence needed for the continuation of U.S. leadership in space. This is the right moment, and The Aerospace Corporation is the right partner, to bring our annual gathering of leaders at ASCEND into the classified domain,” said Natalia Larrea Brito, AIAA Senior Director, Space. Clearance requirements are TS//SI/TK//NOFORN for the ASCEND Classified Day.
The registration deadline has been extended to Friday, 8 May at 5 p.m. ET.
For more information on the program and Visitor Access Request (VAR) instructions, visit www.ascend.events/program/classified-day-at-ascend.
