Auria, a major space and defense company headquartered in Colorado Springs, showcased a flagship tool it has developed to keep satellite operators well trained. The tool fills a gap identified by a congressional committee as critical as the U.S. contends with increased competition and possible threats from China.

Space is a critical part of daily life, though many are unaware of this fact, said Auria CEO Damien DiPippa. Many aspects of the final frontier are vulnerable.

“Everybody from Walmart to Amazon cannot do what they do today, from a logistics standpoint, without space assets available,” he said.

This creates two considerations, one positive, the other negative, DiPippa added.

“The positive side is, it opens up so much opportunity across the board. … The downside is realizing how much at risk we are if we don’t protect those space assets,” he said.

People’s lives, finances and state power grids are all tied into the space ecosystem in some way, he said.

Overall, the Space Foundation estimates the space economy is worth about $613 billion, 7.8% more than in 2024. Much of it is vulnerable, however. This was made clear in 2007, when China launched an anti-satellite missile and destroyed one of their satellites.

In 2021 the International Space Station had to dodge a debris field created by the Chinese test. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman identified the test as a “pivot point” in China’s space policy and the nation now views space as a war-fighting domain.

For China’s military, space superiority is important for establishing information dominance that “would allow it to control the battlespace and gain (an) operational advantage in wartime,” according to the 2025 annual report from the bipartisan U.S. China Economic and Security Review.

“China’s development and expansion of its space and counterspace strategies and capabilities reflect how the (People’s Liberation Army) may conduct multidomain precision warfare and target U.S. space assets as a means to deter and counter a U.S. military intervention during a regional military conflict,” the report said.

Because of the threats seen from China, the commission recommended the Department of Defense increase the Space Force’s “capacity to conduct space war gaming” and find ways to improve training for Guardians.

Auria has a collection of solutions. One is called the Battlespace Operational Readiness Game, which it demonstrated during a Thursday event that showcased several of the capabilities it has available to commercial and military partners. The company calls it BORG, and it is one of three gamified training platforms it created to improve satellite operators’ skills and decision-making, according to the company.

Auria’s BORG, and the larger ForgePoint training system, is “very familiar to our future space warfighters who grew up in a gaming environment,” DiPippa said. “Instead of the old days where you had these 300-page manuals, it’s very intuitive. They can pick it up, go through the menus, work the controllers (and) just operate the system.”