KEI Contributor

Katherine Melbourne is a graduate intern and incoming senior member of the technical staff in the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation. In this role, she writes about national security space strategy issues informed by technical understanding and supports the development of tabletop exercises to test proposed policies and processes.

Prior to joining Aerospace, Melbourne was a systems engineer at Ball Aerospace (now BAE Systems). There, she worked on a national security program and served on the commissioning team as a wavefront sensing scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, helping to align its mirrors.

As a graduate research assistant at the University of Colorado Boulder, Melbourne is designing a wargame for the United States Space Force on cislunar operations and strategy. She has previously published work on stellar activity and its effects on exoplanet habitability and assisted with drafting and negotiating agreements between NASA and its foreign partners.

Melbourne earned a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from Yale University and will receive a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in May 2025.

Melbourne was named a John Mather Nobel Scholar at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Women in Aerospace Scholar in 2018. She is also a Brooke Owens Fellowship alumna.