The Satellite tv for pc Breakup: Navy’s Push to Go Small

For many years, the Pentagon has wrestled with changing massive, monolithic satellites with extra agile constellations of smaller spacecraft, an idea often known as satellite tv for pc disaggregation. Proponents have argued that distributed methods are extra resilient towards assault and permit extra frequent know-how upgrades.

This imaginative and prescient is gaining momentum, pushed by the work of the House Improvement Company (SDA) — a company below the U.S. House Power that’s creating a missile-tracking community in low Earth orbit utilizing a whole lot of comparatively small satellites. In contrast, as we speak’s missile detection structure depends totally on a small variety of massive satellites parked in geosynchronous orbits 22,000 miles above the Earth.

The House Power is now seeking to emulate features of SDA’s proliferated acquisition technique, laying out plans to enhance or substitute the Protection Division’s spine methods like protected communications, climate monitoring, and even GPS with clusters of smaller autos. Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of the House Methods Command that oversees House Power acquisitions, noticed that the procurement strategy embraced by SDA is reverberating throughout the service.

“SDA has basically modified acquisition,” Garrant stated Could 21 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Research occasion. “They’ve leveraged the industrial sector, they’ve leveraged relationships with the warfighter. So we’ve realized a variety of classes from them.”

The Pentagon’s massive, bespoke satellite tv for pc packages aren’t fully going away. However disaggregation is more and more taking maintain throughout the U.S. army’s house structure, stated Cordell DeLaPena, program government officer for army communications, positioning, navigation, and timing on the House Power’s House Methods Command.

This push for change, he stated, is being fueled by decrease launch prices, extra succesful small satellites, and different advances spearheaded by the non-public sector.

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

“Milsatcom is the primary part of our disaggregation,” stated DeLaPena. “We’re going to offer resilient communications for warfighters.”

The House Power plans to accumulate three distributed satellite tv for pc networks within the coming years as future replacements for the AEHF system, or the Superior Extraordinarily Excessive Frequency constellation, which supplies safe army communications for each strategic and tactical customers.

DeLaPena advised reporters not too long ago that industrial house know-how is creating alternatives to diversify the structure. The House Power is attempting to ship capabilities sooner by way of extra fast acquisition cycles and know-how refresh charges, and smaller satellites permit DoD to be extra aware of rising threats and never be locked into the identical capabilities for 10-15 years.

At the moment’s AEHF structure consists of six massive satellites that carry a number of payloads to assist a variety of features like nuclear command and management, airborne communications for the presidential air fleet, and tactical communications for floor forces.

For strategic communications supporting senior management, a monitoring and relay satellite tv for pc constellation known as Developed Strategic Satcom is being developed. It’s going to take over AEHF’s strategic roles, similar to offering the U.S. president with assured connectivity throughout nuclear operations.

Tactical battlefield communications, in the meantime, will shift to a brand new proliferated structure of two constellations in geostationary orbit often known as Protected Tactical Satcom (PTS). The PTS-R will concentrate on resilience, offering anti-jam safety optimized for regional theater protection in high-threat environments. One other set of lower-cost satellites, PTS-G, will present world protection for lower-risk operations.

PTS-R satellites will function within the army Ka-band, and PTS World will function within the X-band and Ka-band.

UNBUNDLING GPS

The Pentagon’s bedrock positioning, navigation and timing constellation, the World Positioning System, might get the small-satellite remedy. DeLaPena stated his workplace will examine whether or not payloads at the moment on GPS satellites may be hosted on smaller “GPS Mild” companion spacecraft.

GPS spacecraft as we speak carry a fancy suite of tightly built-in payloads to assist a variety of positioning, timing, nuclear detection and different missions. That creates alternatives for disaggregation, stated DeLaPena.

Among the many payloads hosted on GPS satellites are sensors designed for search and rescue, and to detect nuclear detonations as a part of the U.S. nuclear detection system. Placing sure payloads onto separate platforms might improve resiliency whereas focusing the GPS constellation on its important positioning, navigation and timing roles, he stated.

The House Methods Command has requested firms to submit ideas for a smaller, lighter model of GPS that might function in medium Earth orbit alongside the standard spacecraft.

“I’m very within the industrial marketplace for GPS satellites,” stated DeLaPena. “I feel it’s going to be a recreation changer,” he added. Utilizing industrial satellite tv for pc buses and payloads, it might be doable to disaggregate GPS into smaller and cheaper platforms.

“We will begin making GPS satellites lots lighter and at a much-reduced value,” he stated.

A DISTRIBUTED FUTURE

For climate monitoring, the House Power is seeking to deploy a community of small- and medium-size environmental knowledge satellites to enhance climate companies offered by civilian companies.

A legacy system transitioning to a distributed structure is the Protection Meteorological Satellite tv for pc Program (DMSP).

The growing old DMSP constellation, which supplies strategic cloud characterization knowledge to U.S. army forces, is down to simply two operational satellites, that are anticipated to burn by way of their remaining gasoline quickly.

Fairly than attempt to construct a DMSP alternative, the House Power is pivoting to a disaggregated structure composed of separate satellite tv for pc networks targeted on totally different environmental sensing roles.

Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of the Air Power for House Acquisition, stated Could 21 at a listening to of the Senate Armed Providers Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee that the thought is to make the most of industrial and companion capabilities whereas additionally fielding some purpose-built constellations.

One new constellation will deal with infrared and visual imaging for cloud monitoring — a job beforehand stuffed by DMSP’s main payloads. A separate pair of satellites is deliberate to offer the microwave-sounding and atmospheric moisture-profiling knowledge collected by DMSP’s secondary sensors.

These devoted army platforms will complement climate knowledge from sources just like the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the European Eumetsat program.

The House Power not too long ago launched the primary prototype spacecraft on this new disaggregated climate structure — a small satellite tv for pc known as the Electro-Optical Infrared Climate System. Calvelli highlighted this launch in congressional testimony as the primary part of “a pivot to a extra resilient disaggregated hybrid climate structure to satisfy warfighter necessities.”

MORE EYES IN ORBIT

One other space being reshaped by the army’s house disaggregation push is house area consciousness, or the monitoring of objects in beneficial orbits
round Earth.

At the moment, that mission depends closely on the Geosynchronous House Situational Consciousness Program (GSSAP), which consists of enormous satellites that present specialised monitoring of resident house objects within the geosynchronous belt.

The House Methods Command issued an RFI (request for trade data) in March on a possible constellation of lower-cost “free flyer” satellites with electro-optical sensors to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations.

The RFI signifies the House Power desires to shift away from extremely specialised, big-ticket satellites for house area consciousness in favor of a frequently refreshed constellation of commoditized small satellites with interchangeable payloads. “The purpose is to determine a replenishable constellation,” the command stated within the solicitation.

PENTAGON CULTURE SHIFT

Trade government Charles Beames calls the army’s renewed push for satellite tv for pc disaggregation a long-overdue correction.

For many years, the DoD piled on missions onto huge satellites, stated Beames, who heads an trade group often known as the SmallSat Alliance and greater than a decade in the past served as principal director for house and intelligence within the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection.

On the time, very massive monolithic satellites had been favored due to the excessive value of constructing and launching, so the Pentagon tried to pack as a lot functionality on a spacecraft as doable. The outcome, he stated, had been multi-billion greenback packages that took a long time to develop. These satellites additionally grew to become enticing targets for adversaries who realized they may weaken America’s army would possibly by disabling only one system.

Beames famous that now retired Gen. John Hyten—who then led the Air Power House Command—and former house coverage official Doug Loverro within the early to mid-2010s had been advocating disaggregating massive satellites.

“Their views had been prescient,” stated Beames. However in these days earlier than SpaceX entered the nationwide safety launch market, he stated, the price of placing satellites in house was excessive, and there have been only a few small satellite tv for pc builders. “The main primes that constructed satellites had been fully towards the thought and lobbied closely towards it.”

SDA’s proliferated constellation program proves that the disaggregation technique can shake up the standard house industrial base, stated Beames. The businesses that produced custom-built spacecraft below cost-plus contracts for many years now should compete within the new enterprise surroundings of fixed-price contracts and lower-cost satellites.

Calvelli, the House Power’s high procurement official, has directed acquisition program places of work to leverage the industrial small-satellite trade’s innovation and cut back their reliance on a couple of massive primes.

“We’ve confirmed now that we are able to construct small satellites shortly,” Calvelli stated on the Senate Armed Providers listening to. “Proliferation is completely one of many key parts of a resiliency technique that helps mission assurance.”

“We will transfer neatly to a extra defensible structure that’s not depending on particular person beautiful methods,” Calvelli added. “We’re exhibiting we have now the flexibility to go quick by tapping into the industrial house trade.”

This text first appeared within the June 2024 concern of SpaceNews Journal.

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