The Space Force is scanning the commercial marketplace for space domain awareness capabilities that could be part of a future proliferated constellation, according to its top military acquisition officer.
The service reached out to industry last year for concepts for satellites and sensors that can track activity and objects in space from geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth. The Space Force already has sensing systems in GEO through its Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP. But these new satellites would be small, potentially refuelable and lower cost than existing capabilities.
Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the acting space acquisition executive, said Tuesday at a Washington Space Business Roundtable event in Washington, D.C., that he’s tasked the Space Force’s acquisition team to push forward with a commercial analysis of the responses it received from industry that considers what capabilities are available off-the-shelf, their price point and the potential delivery time frames.
Space domain awareness is a top priority for both the Space Force and U.S. Space Command as they look to monitor and respond to threats in space. Purdy said Space Command, in particular, has been pushing for an unclassified capability, particularly as it looks to strengthen partnerships with U.S. allies and commercial companies.
Speaking with reporters after the event, Purdy said there has been significant interest from international partners in buying into the space domain awareness constellation the Space Force is exploring. Bringing on more commercial companies and international allies presents a challenge with a classified system, he noted, but the service is considering whether it could split the GSSAP mission so that the unclassified functions could be performed by outside firms or foreign militaries.
The Space Force is conducting similar analyses across other mission areas, Purdy said, as part of a bigger push to find areas where it can use commercial means to get the capabilities that operators need on faster timelines and at lower cost. Purdy said he plans to issue similar directives — called acquisition decision memorandums, or ADMS — for “a host of other programs,” including other space domain awareness systems, as well as satellite communication programs.
Purdy said the effort is meant to disrupt the Space Force’s typical practice of waiting five years or longer to refresh technology — an approach that doesn’t work when industry is rapidly iterating and introducing new capabilities.
He noted that some of this analysis won’t lead to major changes in programs, especially if it turns out the expensive, complex requirements are what operators need to perform their missions. The acquisition community’s job, he noted, is to provide options.
“A lot of the most expensive systems, they have key requirements that are driving that expense and time,” Purdy said. “That may be what the operator wants, that’s fine. But I owe it to them as an acquirer in the community to find out, ‘Hey, some of these new commercial options, is this a good trade off?’”
Regularly checking in with the commercial market and finding ways to introduce new technology on faster timelines isn’t necessarily a new approach for the Space Force. The Space Development Agency, which is developing a large constellation of small satellites to track missiles and transport data, has built its acquisition strategy around a two-year technology refresh cycle. Purdy said he wants to emulate that within other parts of the Space Force, including Space Systems Command, the service’s primary acquisition hub.
“I’ve issued those ADMs specifically to get us out of one-off, billion-dollar systems and into proliferated architectures,” he said. “We are absolutely trying to move into that same model.”
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.
