The Space Development Agency has appointed Col. Alexander Rasmussen, most recently chief of the Tracking Layer at SDA, as chief capability officer.
Rasmussen announced his appointment in a LinkedIn post published Tuesday.
In 2021, he joined SDA as program manager for the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer.
What Is SDA’s Tracking Layer?
The Tracking Layer program seeks to detect, identify and track hypersonic missiles and other advanced missile threats through a proliferated constellation of more than 100 satellites in low Earth orbit as part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
SDA expects the Tracking Layer to demonstrate missile defense capability by integrating fire control-quality infrared sensors in the constellation.
According to the agency, the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer is the first step toward an accelerated missile warning/missile tracking capability.
Rasmussen’s Army Career
Prior to SDA, he was the product manager for mounted positioning, navigation and timing within the U.S. Army.
According to his profile on the professional networking platform, he also held the roles of program manager for the joint friendly forces tracking testbed, PM for foreign armored vehicle analysis and brigade current operations officer.
He was deployed in Iraq, where he served as a company commander, battalion civil military operations officer and tank platoon leader.
Rasmussen has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
