In search for agile, cost-effective ways to enhanced military communications, the U.S. Space Force is zooming in on a new class of ‘small GEO’ satellites that have entered the market.
Generally weighing between 300 and 500 kilograms, these satellites promise geostationary capabilities at reduced costs and faster development cycles than traditional multi-ton geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites.
The Space Force is preparing to unveil details of a satellite services procurement aimed at the low but growing number of companies building and operating small GEO satellites.
Space Force strategy
Cordell DeLaPena, program executive officer for military communications at the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, said the U.S. military’s interest in these more compact GEO satellites stems from the need for more agile and resilient communication systems.
He said at the recent Milsatcom USA conference that “There’s going to be a business case” for small GEO satellites in military space architecture. While low Earth orbit (LEO) systems dominate the small satellite market, GEO variants are carving out their own niche, offering potential advantages that appeal to military customers, such as maneuverability.
Small GEO platforms are an example of solutions the commercial satellite industry is pioneering to make satellite communication systems more resilient and less costly, DeLaPena added. “Not every environment needs exquisite capability.”
“Maneuverable GEO” program
Clare Hopper, head of the U.S. Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office, recently announced plans to start a new program this year called “maneuverable GEO.”
She said this initiative aims to capture innovations in the small GEO sector and is expected to encompass a range of services, including satellite communications and the leasing of satellites for military operations. Hopper said a draft request for industry proposals should be released in the coming weeks.
“We’re looking to take advantage of smaller satellites designed for geostationary orbit,” Hopper said. “These capabilities, I think, are promising for the DoD.”
Hopper said small GEO satellites that weigh a few hundred kilograms, compared to several tons for conventional GEO satellites, would give the Space Force options to buy or lease a constellation at relatively low cost.
A geostationary orbit, located approximately 36,000 kilometers above the equator, has traditionally been the preferred location for communications satellites. Satellites in this orbit appear to remain in a fixed position relative to the Earth’s surface, allowing ground-based antennas to point at them continuously without the need for rotation to track their movement.
Hopper said the idea of maneuverable GEO communications is about bringing agility to traditionally static GEO operations.
The Space Force issued a request for information in October to assess the capabilities of the small GEO satellite sector and is incorporating the industry’s feedback in a draft solicitation for bids.
The maneuverable GEO program is expected to utilize Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts, which will provide a framework for the Space Force to place task orders for satellite communications services and hardware as needed.
The procurement strategy for small GEO services draws from previous models used for proliferated LEO satellite communications. “We envision this contract having some of the same kind of key tenets as the PLEO procurement, enabling industry to offer any available capability, service plan packages, custom offerings or custom blends,” she explained.
Commercial opportunities
Small satellites reduce the risk of creating “big juicy targets” in the GEO belt, noted Col. Eric Felt, director of architecture and integration at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration.
The Space Force expects to leverage commercial small GEO satellites for its Protected Tactical Satcom Global (PTS-G) program, intended to provide worldwide assured-access communications for tactical warfighters across military Ka-band and X-band frequencies. Felt said this approach would reduce the vulnerabilities of larger, more traditional satellites.
The Space Force’s 2025 budget proposes $248 million in funding for the PTS-G constellation. Initially, PTS-G would provide services in select regions, with the goal of eventually offering worldwide coverage. The first deployment will be four small GEO satellites — two for the X band and two for the Ka-band.
The military is eyeing small GEO satellites as commercial activity in the sector is picking up. The startup Astranis, which manufactures small telecommunications GEO satellites, has adopted the term “proliferated GEO” in its marketing campaign. This branding is a nod to the “proliferated LEO” concept that has been gaining traction in the national security satellite market.
Rather than viewing GEO as the domain of large, solitary satellites, Astranis is promoting a vision of a more dynamic, populous geostationary environment.
“We’re big fans of proliferated LEO,” said John Gedmark, CEO of Astranis. “But at the end of the day, you need to have ‘proliferated everything.’”
The San Francisco company launched its first satellite in 2023 for Alaskan telecom operator Pacific Dataport and plans to put more satellites in orbit in the coming years, with the goal of providing dedicated broadband capacity to underserved markets and regions.
Gedmark told SpaceNews that Astranis has sold satellites to various commercial and government customers worldwide, including in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, the Philippines and Thailand.
He said the company is also actively pursuing military contracts. “We’ve demonstrated our satellites can support the Protected Tactical Waveform,” he said. PTW is a government-developed waveform used in military satellites to safeguard communications from jamming, cyber-attacks or other disruptions.
Gedmark said Astranis is developing a new dual-use satellite with all-electric propulsion that will operate on commercial and military Ka-band frequencies as well as military-only X-band.
This positions Astranis to compete in the Space Force’s maneuverable GEO program and the Protected Tactical Satcom Global (PTS-G) procurement, said Gedmark. “They would get the resilience of having smaller satellites that can also operate the protected tactical waveforms.”
Gedmark explained that satellites with all-electric propulsion align with the DoD’s interest in maneuverability because they use less fuel than chemically propelled satellites, allowing for more frequent adjustments without worrying about running out of fuel.
“We have demonstrated you can put up a small GEO satellite that provides concentrated bandwidth over a targeted area and do that on short notice,” Gedmark said. “And if that capacity is needed somewhere else, then you can move it from one part of the GEO belt to another.”
The company’s new satellite platform, called Omega, is being designed for constellations of small GEOs flying in formation. “We found that you could operate four to 12 of these satellites in a single orbital slot,” said Gedmark. “That’s just a resilience that you would not get if all that capability was in the form of a single large satellite.”
Terran Orbital, a LEO satellite specialist based in Boca Raton, Florida, recently announced a new line of small satellite buses designed for geostationary orbit. This new product line, named SmallSat GEO, is intended to compete in the emerging small GEO satellite market.
“The geosynchronous market is moving more towards small satellites with more and more GEO spacecraft ordered in the ‘small’ size class,” said Terran Orbital CEO Marc Bell.
Bell said Terran Orbital is seeing growing international interest in their technology, noting that the company is in early discussions with an unnamed country to supply geostationary satellites equipped with Ku- and Ka-band communications links.
Matthew Gann, Terran Orbital’s senior vice president of strategy and business growth, said the goal is to bring a small GEO satellite to market in 18 to 24 months. “The price points are one-tenth of the price of what you pay for the big GEO comms,” he told SpaceNews.
Terran Orbital is monitoring the Space Force’s maneuverable GEO program as a potential opportunity. “We’re trying to put our footprint down” in this sector, Gann said.
Despite specializing in LEO satellites, Terran Orbital has gained GEO experience through its role in NASA’s CAPSTONE mission. The company designed and integrated a cubesat for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, which was launched in 2022 for partner Advanced Space. Initially designed for an 18-month mission, CAPSTONE is currently operating in its extended mission phase, testing near-lunar communication and navigation technologies as well as new software tools for autonomous spacecraft operations.
Another emerging player in the small GEO sector is SWISSto12, a Swiss manufacturer that developed a line of smallsats for telecommunications services in partnership with the European Space Agency. The Renens, Switzerland-based company has secured contracts with satellite operators Intelsat and Viasat. The first “HummingSats” are slated for launch in 2026.
Meanwhile, York Space Systems, an established smallsat builder based in Denver, is also eyeing opportunities in the geostationary realm. Dirk Wallinger, CEO of York Space Systems, told an investors conference in June that the company “sees the small GEO market as a natural extension of our capabilities.” However, York has not yet announced specific small GEO products.
Driving innovation
Hopper, the head of the Space Force’s commercial satcom office, said the military’s interest in small GEO satellites exemplifies the U.S. government’s strategy of leveraging commercial innovations to enhance defense capabilities.
By driving demand for these smaller, more versatile satellites, she noted, the military can stimulate further innovation and investment in the sector. This, in turn, could lead to the development of new technologies and capabilities that benefit both military and commercial applications.
DeLaPena, the program executive officer at Space Systems Command, emphasized this strategy: “I think the future of DoD space is that we’re going to leverage every commercial investment out there.”
This article first appeared in the August 2024 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.
