Bill “B.K.” Kelley
Vice President and Division Manager, Air Force and Space Division, ManTech
B.K. Kelley’s biggest achievement with ManTech was work that made the James Webb Space Telescope operational last spring. ManTech designed and created the 18×56-foot shield that protects the telescope from heat, light and infrared radiation emitted by the sun, moon and Earth ⏤ factors that would otherwise impair its functionality.
As the JWST orbits the sun at 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, ManTech’s sun shield keeps the telescope at a safe temperature of 50 Kelvin (minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit) ⏤ and ensures the device’s ability to see farther into space than ever before.
In addition, ManTech supported the Commercial Crew Program at launch and capsule recovery for SpaceX rockets that take astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
“In the 30 years I’ve done this work, the space arena has undergone significant changes,” Kelley said. “We’ve seen many advances in civil space such as the Hubble and James Webb Space telescopes, and just as significantly, the transition from large geostationary satellites to today’s proliferation of smaller, interconnected low-earth orbit satellites that are less expensive and lower risk ⏤ plus reusable assets that can actually return to earth. Commercial participants like SpaceX today play a huge role in every aspect of space, including the military and intelligence domains.”
Why Watch
In 2023, ManTech is laser focused on what the U.S. Space Force deems the nation’s key threats in space ⏤ sophisticated technology weapons unfriendly states can use to disrupt the nation’s space assets and engage in space warfare.
These on-orbit space threats include electronic warfare, directed energy weapons, cyber counterspace weapons, direct ascent anti-satellite weapons and co-orbital ASATs ⏤ any one of which can disable or take down a satellite. Space as a contested domain has fundamentally changed, and how the nation operates in space has to shift as ManTech protects and preserves the nation’s security.
“We are not alone,” Kelley said. “For many years, U.S. dominance of space was uncontested, but no longer. For the U.S., this means building a sufficient deterrent to avoid a space war, and ManTech will be there to help our nation build and continue advancing that capability.”