TC Space Consulting

Dr. Tom Cooley is a renowned expert in space technology with over 25 years of experience in the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). He currently serves as the President of TC Space Consulting, LLC, where he applies his extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of space technology and the United States Space Force (USSF).

During his time at AFRL, Dr. Cooley held several senior positions, including Chief Scientist of the Space Vehicles Directorate, Senior Scientist for Space Situational Awareness, Principal Scientist responsible for leading the AFRL In-space Servicing, Assembly & Manufacturing, Chief Scientist of SpaceWERX, Chair of the Department of Defense (R&E) Space Community of Interest, and Program Manager and Principal Investigator for the TacSat-3/ARTEMIS mission.

Dr. Cooley’s career in space technology began in 1988 when he joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Rensselaer. He later earned his Master of Science degree from Caltech and his Doctorate from the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona.

Throughout his career, Dr. Cooley has contributed to a wide range of technologies focused on electro-optic sensors and imaging spectroscopy from space platforms technologies. He has published over 70 papers in national and international journals or conferences and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the AFRL and SPIE Fellow.

Dr. Cooley’s expertise in space technology and the USSF make him a valuable asset to his clients at TC Space Consulting, LLC. His extensive experience and contributions to the field of space technology make him a respected authority in the industry.

Dr. Dimitrios Antsos is
leading a group of technologists in the research and development (R&D) of state-of-the-
art technologies for the future of spacecraft telecommunications, as Manager of the Space Communications and Navigation Technology Development Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). In addition, over the past 30 years, Dr. Antsos has acted as a private engineering consultant to companies in the broadcast switching and patching industry, in the audio engineering industry and in the satellite communications industry.

Before returning to JPL in April of 2003, Dr. Antsos was Chief Technical Officer of
Upstream Systems, a leading, international mobile commerce company that provides
revolutionary internet-age technologies and services to mass media. Before that Dr.
Antsos was R&D manager and senior scientist at Pulsent Corporation, a Silicon Valley
start-up that performed cutting-edge research in advanced video compression. Prior to
that, he was supervisor of the Spacecraft Transponder and Signal Processing group in the Spacecraft Telecommunications Equipment Section of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, performing R&D and fabrication of spacecraft telecommunications systems. Since 1995, he has also been a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, teaching graduate-level courses in Microwave Circuits and Antennas and other analog electrical engineering areas.

Antsos is the holder of 3 patents and has several publications in major refereed IEEE
journals. He is the recipient of several NASA certificates of recognition for various
NASA Tech Brief publications, and was the winner of the Eta Kappa Nu Senior Design
Contest in 1990. Antsos holds a bachelor’s, a master’s and a doctorate in electrical engineering, all from
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Dr. David A. Hardy, retired from the Air Force as a member of the Senior Executive Service as the Associate Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space, and the Deputy Director, Principal Department of Defense Space Advisor Staff, the Pentagon, Arlington, Va. In that role, he was responsible for integrating and overseeing all DoD space capabilities and activities, coordinating with the intelligence community, and providing support to the Secretary of Defense on space portfolio decisions. He entered the Air Force as a first lieutenant in 1976 and he began his career at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. He has held many leadership posts at AFRL including Director, Directed Energy Directorate; Associate Director for Space Technology, Space Vehicles Directorate; and Senior Space Experimentalist. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2006. Since retiring from Government service December 2017, he has advised large and small companies and continued to provide strategic advice to the USSF on science and technology investments. Dr. Hardy has published more than 125 papers in national and international journals and has been directly responsible for the development and flight of more than 35 scientific and operational space flight systems.

Carter Breckenridge is a specialist in space tech startups with a focus on ISAM. Graduating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2021 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, he began his career designing end effectors for industrial robots. In 2022, he moved to Albuquerque, NM to do space robotics research at the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, where Tom Cooley was the Chief Scientist. He has since moved on to NewSpace Nexus, where he manages the NewSpace Ignitor program, a space tech startup incubator. In 2023, Carter completed a Business Fundamentals Certificate from Wharton School. He currently focuses on helping space tech companies craft effective pitches, design products for government needs, and effectively communicate to government, industry, and investors.