Latest news with #GeosynchronousSpaceSituationalAwarenessProgram
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Space Force eyes commercial tech to fill low Earth orbit sensing gaps
The Space Force recently launched a survey of the commercial marketplace for companies that can track and characterize activities in low Earth orbit. As more commercial and government satellites launch to LEO, the service has a growing need for visibility in the domain, which resides about 1,200 miles above the Earth's surface. In a May 16 notice, the service calls for information from firms that can provide space domain awareness in the 'increasingly congested orbital environment.' Specifically, the service wants these systems to provide better insight into 'objects of interest' and real-time assessment of potential conjunctions. It also wants data that can be used to quickly investigate anomalies in LEO to understand if measures need to be taken to protect U.S. space assets. 'The goal is to identify commercial vendors offering sensors as a service, today or in the future, with a capability for individual sensor tasking directly from a pre-existing U.S. government mission application layer,' the service said. 'The government is particularly interested in solutions that prioritize data quality, verification, and traceability to ensure the reliability of information used in time-critical decision-making processes.' The mission application layer referenced in the notice is a software capability that provides information about the environment to inform military operators as they direct and task commercial sensors. The call for LEO-based space domain awareness follows a similar push from the Space Force to identify commercial capabilities in geosynchronous orbit, known as GEO, which sits at a higher altitude than LEO and is where many of the service's high-value systems reside. In early 2024, the service sought input from private sector firms on whether their GEO sensing systems could augment the existing government-owned satellites that make up its Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP constellation. That market research led the service to craft an acquisition plan for a commercial GEO-based space domain awareness architecture. The service approved the initial plan in late April and is now fleshing out a more detailed strategy, including how to make the system available at an unclassified level to U.S. allies. The Space Force has several ongoing initiatives to leverage the growing marketplace of LEO-based services. In 2023, it selected a pool of 16 vendors to provide a range of services as part of its Proliferated Low Earth Orbit program. The contract initially had a ceiling of $900 million but has since grown to $13 billion in response to demand from military users. In the space domain awareness area, a number of startups — including ExoAnalytic Solutions, LeoLabs and Slingshot Aerospace — are offering a range of capabilities, from AI tracking tools to mobile, ground-based radars. The May 16 notice doesn't state preference for either space-based or ground-based systems, but it notes that the service has a particular need for more positional data as well as electro-optical and active and passive radio frequency observations.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Space Force eyes commercial options for space surveillance mission
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.'
