06.27.2025
RocketCom founder and CEO Michal Anne Rogondino recently published a powerful opinion piece in SpaceNews, highlighting why User-Centered Design (UCD) must be at the heart of the U.S. military’s largest missile defense initiative — the $175 billion Golden Dome project.
In the article, Rogondino makes the case that system usability isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s mission-critical. When warfighters have only seconds to respond to threats, every confusing interface, disjointed workflow, or incompatible system puts lives and national security at risk.
Key Points:
- Golden Dome’s complexity demands standardization.
With systems spanning land, sea, and space, unified UX standards are essential to ensure fast, seamless coordination across branches. - User-Centered Design (UCD) must begin at the strategic level.
Usability should be baked into requirements, acquisition, and architecture, and not as a post-development fix. - UX drives real results.
Applying UCD to a Space Force collision-avoidance app reduced checklist steps by 60% and task time by up to 83%. - Design systems accelerate mission capability.
RocketCom’s Astro UX Design System enables consistent, rapid development of intuitive interfaces, cutting development time by up to 30%. - Standardization ≠ one-size-fits-all.
Mission-specific apps can be distinct while sharing common UX patterns that allow for fluid communication and faster threat response. - Usability is national security.
Warfighters shouldn’t be fighting interfaces. Effective UX ensures focus remains on the mission and not the technology.
Read the full article on SpaceNews:
The Key to Golden Dome’s Success: Make It Usable
