STAR Systems’ company culture is based on cooperation under shared principles and core values. This is identified in our company as "STAR Culture" and seeks to nurture a culture of clarity, structure, affirmation, cooperation, innovation, transparency, and free enterprise where people can be inspired to see the best in themselves and others and discover their unique purpose, roles and responsibilities as we fulfill our organizational purpose. Our focus is to maximize the value and capabilities of the customers we serve with a Hermes spacecraft experience that enriches the quality of life and human understanding and enables people to live significant, meaningful and productive lives.
» Organizational Purpose
» Our Current Best Thinking: A People-Driven Economy
» Foundations: Cooperative Principles and Shared Core Values
» Organizational Structure: A Grassroots, Multi-stakeholder Model
» Modus Operandi
» A Scientific Method Style Process of Inquiry
Organizational Purpose
- The Object of STAR Systems is comprised of a three-fold organizational purpose, estbalished as a foundation for nuturing a culture of clarity by identifying where we are at now, where we want to be, and what we are doing to get there:
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Mission: The mission of STAR Systems is to provide the ultimate joyride, a thrilling Hermes shuttle ride to suborbital space where passengers can experience zero gravity, see the curvature of the Earth below and the star-filled black sky above.
- Vision
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The vision of STAR Systems is to expand the progress, technology and lessons learned from the Hermes spacecraft towards the cooperative development of greater commercial space transportation vehicles and capabilities.
- Organizing Goal
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The organizing goal of STAR Systems is to empower the mission and vision by lowering the costs of spacecraft development through a step-by-step, "build-a-little, test-a-lot" development process.
Our Current Best Thinking: A People-Driven Economy
What we’ve found time and again in our experience is that people have been our greatest economy. You can have all the money in the world at your disposal, but without people to make good use of it nothing will happen. In fact, the realization of this concept, of people being your greatest economy, becomes most obvious when then there is no funding at all and yet work still needs to be done to get to a stage where funding can be obtained. At that point, the only driving force is sheer will, passion, and vision for something better, put into action by people. Dedicated people are needed through every stage of the procurement, development, and operations process to field a product that is innovative, affordable and capable of returning money back for sustainability. As it happens, we find that our economy consists of:
- our valued sponsors and investors who work with us in agreement and shared core values to provide financial and hardware support which make possible the dream so that…
- our valued personnel can use that support to create an innovative, profitable and affordable product that allows…
- our valued customers to be productive and continue using our product which allows a sustainable cash flow and in turn creates inspiration and opportunities for…
- our valued supporters, educators, students and others, all having the power within themselves to innovate new ideas and concepts for working together, expanding capabilities and creating value...
Whether we are aware of it or not, there is a far reaching symbiotic relationship at work here between all stakeholders. This symbiotic relationship not only serves as the inspiration behind the Hermes spacecraft, but also as the inspiration behind our STAR Culture overseeing its development and operations. Like the Hermes, our STAR Culture is inspired by you and based on the idea that our greatest economy is you, because you, like everyone, holds a key to our success. Whether you’re looking for a thrilling spaceflight experience, or to gather scientific data, or test a new technology concept in the space environment, or have innovative ideas for expanding future capabilities in space transportation, the ability to provide affordable access to space for expanding your current best thinking and success allows us to be successful and expand our current best thinking. Your success translates into our success, and vice versa.
Foundations: Cooperative Principles and Shared Core Values
As the Apollo Program, tasked with landing a man on the Moon in one decade, was built from the cooperative efforts and development of contractors and parts from all 50 U.S. states, we believe the expansion of technology and capabilities for affordable commercial space transportation can most effectively be developed through cooperative efforts. Whether you are a customer, sponsor, producer of parts, employee, investor, or simply a supporter, we believe all stakeholders have the potential to come together, as one in agreement under shared principles, to bring value to a community environment for expanding capabilities and current best thinking. As such, our STAR culture identifies with similar principles and core values inherent to cooperation:
- Open discussion and exchange of ideas
- Facilitation of an inclusive, community environment
- Encouragement of consensus building
- Continued education and self-improvement
- Transparency in governance and operations
- Sharing of ideas, knowledge and resources
- Cooperation among supporters, allies, and even potential competitors
- Concern for Community
Whether it be transparency in our company governance, educating others about commercial space transportation, sharing knowledge about our methods and processes, or discussing ideas on comment boards, you can find these principles and core values at work throughout our community and manifested well on our website. We invite you to participate in the process and discover your unique purpose, role and/or responsibility as you expand your current best thinking.
Organizational Structure: A Grassroots, Multi-stakeholder Model
Identifying distinctions between the unique purpose, roles and responsibilities of each type of stakeholder provides a template for doing business that we believe will create lasting value and success for shifting the paradigm of the industry.
Modus Operandi
STAR Systems mode of operations for development of the Hermes spacecraft draws inspiration from lessons learned through NASA’s 60 years of aerospace technology research and development, a combination of the most highly renowned operating teams in the commercial industry and the personal failures and successes of STAR System’s management team. Our operating methods seek to lower the cost of spacecraft development pursuant to STAR Systems organizing goal by increasing productivity and decreasing micro-management, bureaucracy, and development time and costs. Characteristics of STAR Systems modus operandi include:
- a small team of experienced, ‘hands-on’, multi-disciplined engineers
- greater autonomy given to engineers to explore and test new methods, ideas and concepts
- a custom in-house engineering design process that leads personnel through a step-by-step, “build-a-little, test-a-lot” development process
- consultation by seasoned aerospace industry professionals
Multi-stakeholder Advisory Council (MAC)
The STAR Systems Multi-stakeholder Advisory Council (MAC) was created in the spirit of cooperation to provide advice and recommendations on the development of the Hermes spacecraft and give due regard to external interests of the company. The STAR Systems, LLC founding resolution (STARSYS-RES-2011-001) provides for the appointment of distinguished representative members to the Council from an array of considerations and interests including employees, producers, consumers, educators, students, environmental and the public. Together with the managers of STAR Systems, the Council assists in conducting outreach and developing support among those interests.
A Scientific Method Style Process of Inquiry
Our STAR Culture values an organized, systematic approach to developing and documenting our current best thinking based on gathered data and experience while simultaneously seeking to maintain that fine balance point between too much documentation and not enough documentation. Inspiration on this concept is drawn not only from first-hand industry experience into the stagnating and costly effects often observed from excessive documention processes, but from past concepts, including Kelly Johnsons’ rule #5 of operations stating “There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be documented thoroughly”. In our own fashion, everything we do and document, from corporate governance to business plan development, to technical papers and even prototype development, occurs through an iterative step-by-step, phased process of inquiry based on the scientific method. These phases are:
- 1. Observing
- 2. Identifying
- 3. Researching
- 4. Strategizing
- 5. Implementing
- 6. Measuring
- 7. Transforming
This process of inquiry seeks to reduce micro-management, development time and costs, and “red-tape” and bureaucracy, by facilitating a responsive community environment focused at transformation.