WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is exploring commercial partnerships and international collaborations to enhance its ability to monitor space activities in the face of growing orbital congestion and potential threats, a senior official said Sept. 18.
Speaking at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference in Maui, Hawaii, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of the Space Systems Command, said the Space Force is facing pressure to improve “space domain awareness” — the ability to track and understand what is happening with satellites and other objects in space.
The service is exploring nontraditional commercial options and international partnerships to fill critical gaps in space surveillance, Garrant said. A top priority is space domain awareness in geosynchronous orbit, a region of space critical to both civilian and military operations.
“We’re going to need contributions from across the space community,” he stated, stressing the need to minimize dependencies on traditional large-scale programs.
Rapid deployments of surveillance sats
One example of government-industry collaboration is the Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program, which has demonstrated the potential for rapid satellite deployment in response to adversarial threats. The program’s Victus Nox mission, executed late last year, showcased the ability to rapidly integrate and launch a satellite in record time. This capability, Garrant explained, allows the U.S. to respond swiftly to threatening on-orbit behavior.
A follow-up mission, dubbed Victus Haze, is now in the works and will focus on characterizing adversary actions in space. Two companies have been selected to participate in a real-world threat-response scenario for this mission, further enhancing the Space Force’s SDA capabilities.
Garrant also highlighted the role of the Space Domain Awareness Tactical Applications Proving Lab (SDA Tap Lab) in advancing cutting-edge technologies. The Tap Lab, through initiatives like the Apollo Accelerator, has brought together military personnel, industry experts, and academic researchers to develop new AI algorithms. These algorithms are capable of detecting signs of camouflage and unusual behavior from space objects, offering operators real-time alerts for potential threats.
International partnerships are another key focus. Garrant lamented the traditional exclusion of allied nations due to the lack of effective data-sharing infrastructures but announced efforts to change that. SSC is developing an “Allied Exchange Environment” (AXE) to facilitate real-time, two-way data exchanges between the U.S. and its allies, aiming to break down bottlenecks in data sharing.
“Sharing of data and information with our allied partners is extremely important,” Garrant said.
As part of this international collaboration, SSC has partnered with Japan to launch two hosted payloads on Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). This partnership, born from a 2020 Memorandum of Understanding between the two nations, will help the U.S. maintain persistent surveillance in geosynchronous orbit.
Experimenting with commercial data
Additionally, Garrant highlighted a pilot program underway to increase the use of commercial SDA data through Space Operations Command’s Space Delta 2. This unit, focused on space domain awareness, is experimenting with the Consolidated Operational Data Archive (CODA), an automated system designed to integrate commercial and non-traditional data sources with U.S. military systems.
CODA addresses the long-standing issue of incompatible data formats, combining information from various sources into a cohesive picture for military operators.
