FEBRUARY 2, 2026 – The United States Space Force has selected the service-level recipients for the fourth-annual Polaris Awards.
Established in 2022, the Polaris Awards consist of four individual award categories representing the USSF Guardian Values of Character, Connection, Commitment and Courage, in addition to a team award that exemplifies all Guardian Values. All military and civilian Guardians are eligible to be nominated for each Award category.
The Character Award: Maj. Adriane Payn, Space Force Element, Chantilly, Virginia
Payn personified the Guardian Ideal of Character, serving as Mission Assurance lead for two of the nation’s premier electro-optical satellites. She led the review of more than 1,650 manufacturing process and parts approval requests, proactively identifying and mitigating systemic issues to ensure the quality of over $6 billion in flight hardware. She also identified a critical defect in a specialized software tool and coordinated to prevent its use which preserved one month of schedule and $300K in funds. Additionally, she mentored and supported women’s educational opportunities in STEM fields.
The Connection Award: Sgt. Michael Campos, 33rd Range and Aggressor Squadron, Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado
Campos embodied the Space Force value of Connection by forging strong relationships and a cooperative environment – crucial for mission success, resulting in strengthened Joint Force collaboration through three tactics training seminars on Offensive Cyber operations, and bridging the gap between the cyber and aerospace domains. He provided over 40 hours of targeted cyber training preparing an eight-member team supporting Space Flag 25-2, enabling invaluable combat-readiness verification, for four U.S. Space Force Combat Forces Command (formerly Space Operations Command) cyberspace units.
The Commitment Award: Spc. 4 Logan Pinder, 76th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Squadron, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Pinder exemplified Commitment by trailblazing professional mastery of operational intelligence where his expertise was instrumental in standing up the USSF’s sole time-dominant, multi-disciplined, intelligence squadron. Recognizing that timely intelligence drives operations, he applied his self-taught advanced automation programming to engineer a data converter that cut 80-gigabyte file processing from 100 hours to five minutes, unlocking operational capability on an advanced on-orbit sensor, saving $850,000 in development costs. Additionally, he created the Space Force’s first multi-intelligence training pipeline, forging a system of cross-functional teams and training analysts, to integrate three intelligence disciplines, which re-shaped operational reporting across missions-sets.
The Courage Award: 1st Lt. Robert Bartkowiak, 3rd Test and Evaluation Squadron, Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado
Bartkowiak was a model for Courage through exemplary performance operating at a field-grade officer level, taking calculated risks and pushing the boundaries of test, that ultimately led to the discovery of a new system capability. He built a coalition of 34 Department of War, stakeholders and civilian agencies, aligning funding and project momentum that secured $42 million in support of three major initiatives and reviving a dormant $10 million satellite for test and evaluation.
The Team Excellence Award: Team Archer, 37th Tactical Intelligence Squadron, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado
Team Archer embodied all Guardian values. For Character, Archer team members-built trust and enabled effective teamwork by serving as lead Mission Delta 3 coordinator and event administrators for the Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force’s Guardian Arena III. They epitomized Connection through developing and sustaining connections driving the DAF STEMtoSPACE initiative, organizing two regional and one national robotics competition. For Commitment, they finalized development of the USSF’s first advanced Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence training pipeline, closing long-standing intelligence shortfalls and enhancing analytical techniques across three deltas, bolstering DoW Electromagnetic Warfare and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance capabilities. Lastly, personifying Courage and with no acquisition or cyber experience, the team took charge of a $1.7 million intelligence support system install, leading communications security and test personnel to successfully complete the multi-site project two days early.
Congratulations to the 2025 Polaris Award winners for serving as the exemplars of the Space Force’s core values of Character, Connection, Commitment and Courage.
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs