2001 MAPLD International Conference AIAA Invited Talk
NextGen - a New Way of Doing Business
Kossiakoff Conference Center
The Johns Hopkins University- Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099
September 11-13, 2001
NextGen is a new approach to the design, development, fabrication, and operations of satellite systems based on standardizing the three critical interfaces on a spacecraft - mechanical, power, and data. In so doing the time-to-market for new capabilities can be radically reduced and the potential of robotic servicing of space systems greatly enhanced. The presentation explores the cost benefits of NextGen servicing and the potential impact on space operations.
Eric Sundberg was born April 10th, 1945 in Tonopah, Nevada and grew up in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and California. He graduated from Watsonville High School in Watsonville, California in 1963, attended Cabrillo College for two years and then went on to the University of California at Santa Barbara where he received a bachelor of arts degree in physics. He subsequently received a bachelor of science degree in meteorology from San Jose State University and a masters of science degree in physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He earned his commission in the United States Air Force through Officer Training School in 1968 and was a distinguished graduate of the Squadron Officers School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
As a second lieutenant, Eric’s first operational assignment was at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, where he served as a staff duty meteorologist support B-58, KC-135, C-130, and Titan II operations. He spent the next year in Vietnam followed by a little over three years at the Satellite Test Center in Sunnyvale, California.
Following a year and a half as a graduate student at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Eric was assigned to the Secretary of the Air Force, Specials Projects, at the Los Angeles Air Force Station, Los Angeles, California. There he served in an extremely wide variety of capacities including: Payload Development Engineer, Chief of the Systems Concepts Division, Manned Spacecraft Engineer (Space Shuttle Payload Specialist), Chief of the Space Transportation System Exploitation Branch, Chief of the Manned Spaceflight Division, and Chief of the Program Analysis Division.
In 1985, he moved to Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, and served first as the Chief of the Space and Missile Warning Systems Training Division and then as the Director of Operations Analysis within the DCS for Operations. While at Space Command, Eric was selected for a below-the-zone promotion to the rank of Colonel. Shortly thereafter he was assigned to serve as the Space Command Chair at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base for the 1988 and 1989 school years. He then transferred to the Secretary of the Air Force, Space Systems, in Washington, DC, where he directed the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Measurements and Signatures Intelligence (MASINT) Program. He subsequently served as the Chief of Staff for the NRO’s Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Directorate, and completed his Air Force career as the Associate Director of the NRO’s Advanced Technology Program. He retired from the Air Force in the grade of Colonel in August of 1997 and took a position with the Georgia Tech Research Institute with an assignment back to the NRO in the Advanced Systems and Technology Directorate and is now serving as a Deputy Chief Corporate System Engineer.
Eric Sundberg’s decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Intelligence Community Distinguished Service Medal, the NRO Distinguished Service Medalion (Gold), the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. He is also a member of the Phi Kapa Phi academic honor society.
He has a daughter and son, Nissa and Leif, and four grandchildren, Edward, Sariah, Amanda and Bethany.
Back to Programmable Technologies Home Page
Last Revised August 05, 2007
Digital Engineering Institute
Web Designer: Richard Katz