satellites Archives | FedScoop https://fedscoop.com/tag/satellites/ FedScoop delivers up-to-the-minute breaking government tech news and is the government IT community's platform for education and collaboration through news, events, radio and TV. FedScoop engages top leaders from the White House, federal agencies, academia and the tech industry both online and in person to discuss ways technology can improve government, and to exchange best practices and identify how to achieve common goals. Wed, 08 Nov 2023 15:28:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.4 https://fedscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/01/cropped-fs_favicon-3.png?w=32 satellites Archives | FedScoop https://fedscoop.com/tag/satellites/ 32 32 GOP lawmakers call for watchdog review of NOAA weather satellite program https://fedscoop.com/gop-lawmakers-call-for-watchdog-review-of-noaa-weather-satellite-program/ Fri, 02 Jun 2023 20:47:15 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=69025 Rep. Frank Lucas and Sen. Ted Cruz are seeking an evaluation of NOAA’s approach to design and development for the GeoXO program.

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Senior Republican lawmakers have written to the Government Accountability Office calling on the congressional watchdog to undertake a review of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s next-generation geostationary satellite program.

In a letter sent June 1 to the comptroller of the United States, Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the GAO should probe whether NOAA followed best practices when drawing up cost estimates and designing its GeoXO program.

The request comes after an earlier 2015 report by the watchdog identified major delays and budget overruns in the development of GeoXO’s preceding $10.9 billion weather satellite program, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R Series (GOES-R). 

GeoXO is a replacement for GOES-R and is intended to provide advanced detection and monitoring of environmental hazards like wildfires, smoke, dust, volcanic ash, drought, and flooding.

In their missive, the lawmakers wrote: “Given the cost, complexity, and scope of the GeoXO program; its similarities to the GOES-R initiative; and uncertainty around the newly implemented acquisition processes at NOAA, our committees have concerns about—and are asking GAO to review—the GeoXO program’s ability to meet its cost, schedule, and performance requirements.”

Rep. Lucas is chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, while Sen. Cruz holds the post of ranking member in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The lawmakers are seeking an evaluation of NOAA’s approach to design and development for the GeoXO program, an assessment of which milestones have been met, and an evaluation of whether the agency has identified and incorporated lessons from the previous GOES-R program.

GeoXO has a projected lifecycle cost of $19.6 billion.

GAO previously identified significant risks to weather forecasting technology arising from NOAA’s failure to ensure operational overlap. Mitigating weather satellite gaps has appeared on the watchdog’s High-Risk List for multiple years.

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FCC establishes new bureau dedicated to satellite industry oversight   https://fedscoop.com/fcc-establishes-new-bureau-dedicated-to-satellite-industry-oversight/ Thu, 03 Nov 2022 23:47:27 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=63455 The agency has set up a new space bureau intended to acknowledge the increasing importance of satellites to achieving the United States’ broadband goals.

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The Federal Communications Commission has set up a new bureau dedicated to improving the agency’s oversight of the satellite industry.

It is one of two new offices to come out of an internal reorganization at the FCC, which has also created a standalone office of international affairs.

According to the FCC, the changes will help the agency fulfill its statutory obligations and to keep pace with the rapidly changing satellite industry and global communications policy. 

Establishing a standalone Space Bureau will elevate the importance of satellite programs and policy internally, and will also acknowledge the role of satellite communications in advancing domestic communications policy, according to the agency.

Under the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC licenses radio frequency uses by satellites and ensures that space systems reviewed by the agency have sufficient plans to mitigate orbital debris.

The FCC said also that creating the two new separate offices will allow expertise to be more consistently leveraged across the organization’s different bureaus.

Commenting on the reorganization, FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel said: “The satellite industry is growing at a record pace, but here on the ground our regulatory frameworks for licensing them have not kept up.  Over the past two years, the agency has received applications for 64,000 new satellites.  In addition, we are seeing new commercial models, new players, and new technologies coming together to pioneer a wide-range of new satellite services and space-based activities that need access to wireless airwaves.”

“Today, I announced a plan to build on this success and prepare for what comes next,” she added. “A new Space Bureau at the FCC will ensure that the agency’s resources are appropriately aligned to fulfill its statutory obligations, improve its coordination across the federal government, and support the 21st century satellite industry.”

In August, the FCC signed a joint memorandum of understanding with the NTIA aimed at improving the coordination of federal spectrum management and efficient use of radio frequencies. 

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Geomagnetic storm expected to pass with minimal impact on agencies’ satellites, comms https://fedscoop.com/swpc-noaa-geomagnetic-storm-watch/ Thu, 18 Aug 2022 21:05:56 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=58479 The Space Weather Prediction Center expected moderate conditions at worst from the storm as of 10:11 a.m. EST.

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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the latest storm forecast from the Space Weather Prediction Center.

The worst of the geomagnetic storm affecting Earth likely occurred Wednesday night, with only minor conditions since, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center on Friday.

SWPC is keeping agencies like NASA abreast of the storm, which may affect their satellites and communications over the next 24 hours, but expected moderate conditions at worst as of 10:11 a.m. EST.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s facility in Boulder, Colorado continue to analyze solar wind data coming in from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and provide agencies and industry with situational awareness.

“It’s almost like the Sun shoots a magnet out into space,” Bill Murtagh, SWPC program coordinator, told FedScoop.

Part of an eruption began impacting the Earth’s magnetic field Wednesday night, producing geomagnetic storm conditions at the G1, minor, and G2, moderate, levels on a scale that goes up to G5, extreme. The storm was expected to peak at the G3, strong, level but no longer.

Geomagnetic storms heat and expand the atmosphere, changing its density in a way that can throw satellites off their orbit, and they can also cause electrostatic discharge on spacecraft. SpaceX lost 40 Starlink satellites it launched in February due to geomagnetic activity that didn’t even reach the G1 level.

“We have good communication,” Murtagh added. “We get these alerts and warnings out not just to industry but anybody and everybody that owns satellites, so NASA for example, with near-Earth and deep-space satellites, would get this information.”

SWPC is a division of the National Weather Service that’s been keeping an eye on a small cluster of sunspots, three times the size of Earth, that’s been unusually active the last four to five days. Daily eruptions have caused coronal mass ejections, releases of a billion tons of plasmic gas and magnetic field.

It issues alerts to about 70,000 Product Subscription Service subscribers, including almost every major satellite company globally, to help them plan for geomagnetic storms.

While satellite companies don’t really share information on how the storms ultimately affect them, agencies like NASA do — though not immediately. Weeks to months of analysis are required to determine if an anomaly on a spacecraft was due to a geomagnetic storm or something else, and SWPC might not catch wind for six months after an event, Murtagh said.

The last time the Earth experienced a G5-level storm, Oct. 29, 2003, NASA eventually released a report revealing that about 50% to 60% of their satellite fleet had been affected to various degrees.

“When they feel the effects, we will typically hear about it afterward,” Murtagh said.

No agencies had reported being affected by the current geomagnetic storm as of Friday, and G2-level storms don’t typically produce “big” effects, he added. But SWPC can still extend its existing watch or announce a new one and issue alerts as the storm level changes.

Geomagnetic storms can also degrade communications because they cause changes in the ionosphere, the layer of the atmosphere satellite signals must pass through to reach Earth. That said, cell phones will remain unaffected because line-of-sight communications are resilient due to cell towers.

Airlines aren’t as lucky because planes rely on high-frequency communications when traveling over oceans, and those signals bounce off the ionosphere and are degraded by solar flares. The situation isn’t dangerous because airlines have redundancies built in, namely switching to satellite communications or linking to other aircraft, Murtagh said.

A final way geomagnetic storms affect Earth is with geomagnetically induced currents that can flow through good conductive material like salt water and certain soil. The currents can move through rock formations into power grids, and introducing a direct current into an alternating current network is “not a good thing,” Murtagh said.

In the case of a G3-level storm however, the situation is “mostly” manageable without risk of power outages, he added.

The Sun’s magnetic poles reverse every 11 years, leading to a solar cycle much like a hurricane season where sunspots emerge.

Generally there are one to two G5-level storms every solar cycle, although there were none last cycle. No G5 or even G4s have been seen so far this cycle, but the solar maximum, when the most sunspots appear, isn’t until 2024-25.

“We’re ramping up to the next maximum,” Murtagh said. “So we’re going to see an increase of activity.”

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NOAA looks to improve satellite data availability, manage services with industry https://fedscoop.com/noaa-improving-satellite-data-availabilty/ Fri, 12 Aug 2022 19:18:36 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=58038 The agency is looking for a more agile information system to process data gathered by the National Weather Service.

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks information on commercial space-based data relay capabilities that can improve satellite data availability and resilience.

NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) needs a more agile, scalable information system to process data, and its Commercial Services Integrated Product Team identified space-based data relays (SBDRs) as an emerging technology that might fill that need.

The service manages the data gathered by the National Weather Service. Much like NASA, NESDIS plans to transition away from government-owned and -operated satellite services to those managed in partnership with industry, so it needs cost-effective commercial technologies like SBDR that will improve space-ground communications and mission operations.

“NESDIS is formulating plans for transition to a common services-based enterprise ground architecture that is both supportive of NOAA’s next-generation satellite observing systems and responsive to new and evolving threats and opportunities,” reads NOAA’s request for information (RFI).

The service wants SBDR capabilities that are either deployable within five years into in-development satellite platforms or that can facilitate out-of-the-box communications to on-orbit satellites in the S/X/Ka-band. Those capabilities must be able to relay critical telemetry and commanding data, as well as higher-rate science mission-data, to and from NOAA satellites.

NOAA uses geostationary (GEO) orbit satellites for earth-facing persistent observations, low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites for earth-facing global observations and both for space weather observations.

RFI responses are due by 12 p.m. EST on Sept. 8, 2022, and respondents may request virtual one-on-one discussions in September or October.

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Air Force Research Lab seeks new algorithms to enhance space situational awareness https://fedscoop.com/air-force-research-lab-seeks-new-algorithms-for-space-situational-awareness/ Thu, 11 Aug 2022 20:08:25 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=57922 AFRL is soliciting white papers for new machine learning and high-tech computing capabilities that could improve the U.S. military’s situational awareness of potential threats in the space domain.

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The Air Force Research Laboratory is looking for new machine learning and high-performance computing capabilities that could improve the U.S. military’s situational awareness of potential threats in the space domain.

AFRL, under a Broad Agency Announcement updated on Thursday, is soliciting white papers for the effort.

The focus of the BAA is to “research, develop, demonstrate, integrate, test and deliver innovative technologies associated with tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, analysis and dissemination of data and information in support of Space Situation Awareness (SSA), characterization, and assessment of space related events.”

Additionally, “the BAA will develop techniques that provide avenues to leverage new sensor technology, High-Performance Computational SSA, expertise and applications from the ground, orbital and cyber intelligence assessment perspectives to attain an integrated, predictive SSA perspective,” according to the announcement.

More specifically, AFRL is seeking new algorithms and applications for several technical areas including automated pattern learning and reasoning; anomaly detection and characterization and assessment of space events; multi-source data exploitation, analysis and fusion for “timely, accurate and complete characterization” of space objects; and high-fidelity tools for satellite modeling, classification and vulnerability assessment, among others.

Potential use cases envisioned for astrodynamics algorithms include tracking and data association; advanced orbit estimation and prediction; observation error characterization; track initiation with all space surveillance data types; satellite identification and recognition; and data and analysis required for modeling and simulation.

The lab is also looking for “state-of-the-art algorithms and capabilities for 3D modeling and training set development for AI inference engines and ML algorithms within [deep neural network] architectures,” according to the announcement.

The BAA also notes an interest in “state-of-the-art accelerators” for a high-performance computing (HPC) system that could inform upcoming mission needs or requirements for AI, machine learning and machine inference (MI) applications; radio frequency and synthetic aperture radar applications; and an enterprise class data storage architecture or capability to support an HPC system.

“Proposed technologies should address key gaps and shortfalls as identified by AFRL and other Department of Defense technology studies including capabilities for threat awareness, the ability to gather and fuse intelligence data with current and archived intelligence information, provide intelligence analysis tools and exploit space and terrestrial environment information,” the announcement said.

Total funding for this BAA is just under $100 million. About $23.5 million is expected to be obligated in fiscal 2023.

Procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or Other Transaction agreements may be awarded through a competitive process, according to the announcement. Multiple awards are anticipated.

Notably, successful prototype projects that result from an Other Transaction for Prototype agreement, could transition to a follow-on production contract or transaction.

The BAA is open until Sept. 30, 2023. However, to align with projected funding for fiscal 2023, the announcement recommends that respondents submit their white papers by Jan. 2, 2023.

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NRO, Air and Space Forces jointly investigating how to improve space-based ISR https://fedscoop.com/nro-air-and-space-forces-jointly-investigating-how-to-improve-space-based-isr/ Thu, 04 Aug 2022 18:56:01 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=57324 The organizations are expanding cooperation to better confront modern challenges.

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The Space Force, Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office are deepening collaboration as they explore better ways to provide critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information to warfighters and U.S. policymakers, NRO Director Chris Scolese confirmed on Thursday.

ISR capabilities enable officials to gather intel about adversaries by tracking their behavior and movements. Much of what NRO does is classified, but the office has been capturing and supplying ISR data from satellites to help focus military efforts and natural disaster response throughout its more than 60 years of existence. Now though, as the strategic environment and technologies are quickly evolving, senior leaders see the need to reshape how U.S. agencies work together. 

“We need information faster and we need to deliver it quicker — and we have even more denied areas” to contend with, Scolese noted at a virtual forum hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Challenges associated with the division of different government entities’ responsibilities for ISR have also been repeatedly spotlighted since the Space Force’s establishment in 2019.

“[NRO has] a lot of experience that we can bring to bear on [ISR], and we’re working very closely with the Air Force and the Space Force [to address] how we go about doing that. How do we take what we’ve learned and what capabilities we have to solve a very urgent problem? There’s a study that’s going on right now that we’re doing jointly that’s going to inform how we move forward on that,” Scolese said. “We recognize that we have to work together in order to develop that capability at scale that we’re going to need as we work in more denied areas.”

That study is not yet complete, “but is going well,” Scolese added — though he didn’t provide further details. At this point, he said, major shifts to the NRO’s role of providing overhead reconnaissance to the nation are not expected.

“I certainly haven’t heard of any indications that there’s a fundamental change in that sense of responsibility,” Scolese noted.

His remarks came about a week after Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall affirmed a new informal agreement for collaboration between the National Reconnaissance Office and the Department of the Air Force — which includes the Space Force — and the potential for more co-funded projects to accelerate the delivery of intel solutions to meet demands. 

“Secretary Kendall and I talk regularly,” Scolese said. In his view, the NRO’s long-standing relationships with the Air Force, Space Force and U.S. Space Command are currently “expanding to recognize that, again, the world is changing.”

He added: “So, as we discussed and as the secretary said, we’re going to tighten that relationship. We’re going to work more closely together and we’re going to find ways so that we can be efficient from a government standpoint so that we can make that happen very effectively.”

Additionally, NRO is working with Space Command to develop a more resilient, proliferated satellite architecture. 

“We all know that Russia and China are becoming very aggressive with space weapons. They want to take away our advantage in space. So, we have to deal with that,” Scolese said.

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SpaceWERX explores machine learning for on-orbit servicing, manufacturing https://fedscoop.com/spacewerx-explores-machine-learning-for-on-orbit-servicing-manufacturing/ Tue, 26 Jul 2022 12:00:00 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=56387 A newly awarded SBIR project could enable use cases spanning satellite life extension, active debris removal, predictive maintenance, and more.

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The Space Force’s innovation arm, SpaceWERX, has tapped Wallaroo Labs to explore and demonstrate how machine learning models can be deployed to advance multiple efforts associated with on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (OSAM) missions for the newest U.S. military branch.

The company was selected for a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project to help the Space Force fully unleash machine learning within its OSAM-aligned production environments, according to an announcement published Tuesday.

OSAM enables the building or repair of systems and components at the operational edge, on orbit. While predictive algorithms to support such processes can be built virtually anywhere on Earth, operationalizing those machine learning models in space is necessary to maximize their value.

“The whole point of this for them is to get to outcomes faster across a whole range of use cases,” Wallaroo CEO and founder Vid Jain told FedScoop in an interview on Monday prior to the announcement.

He explained that the enterprise platform his company has developed “facilitates the last mile of the machine learning journey.” In transportation, the last mile typically refers to the last leg of a process that moves people or goods from a specific hub to a final destination. 

“There’s all this incredible potential [for AI], but only in around 10% of use cases or examples do people realize it — and one of the big stumbling blocks is exactly that last mile,” Jain said. 

Most “machine learning journeys,” as he referred to them, begin with capturing, aggregating and cleaning data from multiple sources. Once that data is in good shape and usable, the next step is developing algorithms and models that identify patterns in it, assign probabilities, and then predict something based on that information. From there, the model needs to be integrated into existing product workflows.

“That turns out to be much harder than people expect — and then once you get that working, the reality of it is your data changes” over time, Jain noted. For that reason and others, adjustments need to be made continuously to keep up with altering patterns of data as they and the network evolve. 

“We’re focused on that. We’re focused on helping the machine learning and AI teams get their models into production, get them running very efficiently, giving them the tools to monitor the models and understand how effective they are, and giving them tools to quickly change and update the models as they need changing,” he added. 

The Air Force and several Fortune 500 companies already lean on the company’s platform, but this is the first time Wallaroo is working directly with SpaceWERX and its parent organization.

“The mission of the [Space Force] is to organize, train and equip Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision-makers military options to achieve national objectives,” SpaceWERX Director for Science, Technology and Research Joel Mozer said in a statement. “To do this effectively, we must invest in AI and ML capabilities that can be deployed in the cloud at the edge. Wallaroo has demonstrated their AI/ML Enterprise Platform, and I believe this platform — with its uniquely modern, interoperable, and integrated architecture — is positioned exceptionally well to deliver game-changing capabilities” to the Space Force.

Executed in collaboration with Catalyst Campus (CCTI), the project could involve use cases spanning satellite life extension, on-orbit refueling, active debris removal, predictive maintenance, and the reuse of materials to underpin manufacturing in space, according to Jain.

“It’s an enabling technology that allows you to be bolder, allows you to do things you couldn’t do before,” he said. 

Wallaroo was launched in 2017 with support from investors that aimed to accelerate dual-use technologies for both the government and commercial sectors. In working with the Air Force and others more recently, Jain said he’s witnessed federal agencies increasingly become more strategically data-driven. 

“I think when we were looking at the topics that we were interested in about two years ago, machine learning was not as prominent. It was basically more data foundation-level. I think what’s changed in the last six months is we’re seeing a lot more requests — whether it’s Space Force, the U.S. military or even other parts of the government — we’re seeing a lot more around, ‘Hey, I’ve got some data scientists and I’ve got data, now what do I do?’” he said. “Which is where we come in. And so I think that’s only going to accelerate and I think there’s so many different use cases that we can help.”

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Space Development Agency awards $1.3B for hypersonic missile-tracking satellites https://fedscoop.com/space-development-agency-awards-1-3b-for-hypersonic-missile-tracking-satellites/ Mon, 18 Jul 2022 21:40:12 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=55898 Part of a larger constellation of hundreds of space-based devices, the systems are intended to help the military track next-generation threats.

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The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency tapped L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman Strategic Space Systems to prototype and maintain the Tranche 1 (T1) Tracking Layer of its National Defense Space Architecture.

That Tracking Layer will be comprised of specialized constellations of satellites intended to provide global, nonstop monitoring for conventional and advanced missile threats, including hypersonic systems flying faster than five times the speed of sound.

Via two prototype agreement awards worth a potential combined value of more than $1.3 billion, the prime contractors will supply specific segments of those built-for-space devices, which are slated to begin launching in April 2025.

“Historically, we have not flown satellites that were designed to go after and detect hypersonic maneuvering vehicles,” SDA Director Derek Tournear told reporters during a press briefing on Monday. “It’s important. As you see in the news, our adversaries — so, primarily Russia and China — have been developing and testing hypersonic glide vehicles, these advanced missiles that are extremely maneuverable.” 

The tracking layer satellites are “specifically designed to go after that next-generation version of threats out there,” Tournear added, noting that they will enable military personnel to eventually “track and predict the impact of hypersonic weapons throughout the entire flight of the missile.” 

SDA’s overarching National Defense Space Architecture is coming together through a layered approach with multiple tranches of system deployments. 

Down the line, the architecture is anticipated to feature hundreds of satellites and sensors that will cycle out over the years and ultimately follow targets like missiles and hypersonic vehicles, provide position, navigation and timing in GPS-denied locations, and communicate with technology on ground stations and other spacecraft.

Previously, U.S. architecture beyond Earth “was designed in an environment that was very benign — in other words, an environment that was not threatened at all,” Tournear noted. Now, though, he said space is more challenged and considered a contemporary warfighting domain. 

“So, because of that, we had to completely change the way that we do our space architecture,” Tournear said. The idea is essentially that heaps of satellites will be hovering across low and medium Earth orbits in a larger and more complex system that can’t be easily taken down. 

This tracking layer marks one major component within that broader national security-focused environment. 

Under the new contracts, each company will build a space segment consisting of two planes with seven space vehicles per plane to capture infrared data and support network communications. In total, there will be 28 satellites over four planes for this particular tranche and the companies are responsible for launch services and ground segments for continued operations and sustainment.

“The reason we use four launches is because as we put the satellites in orbit, we put them in slightly different locations. So all of the satellites will be flown at right at about 1000 kilometers, and they’ll all essentially be what we call polar-orbiting satellites, which means they’ll go over the globe from north-to-south, or around the globe that way,” but spaced in four different planes, Tournear explained.

SDA’s awards were made as rapid other transaction prototype agreements. 

During the briefing, Tournear confirmed that seven companies competed to be prime vendors — and there were some new subcontractors in the mix, compared to past tranches. L3Harris will deliver “all 14 of their satellites for right at $700 million,” or about $50 million apiece, he said, and Northrop Grumman will deliver its cadre of 14 at roughly $617 million, or around $44 million per satellite. 

Notably, these two prototype agreements were finalized on a relatively quick timeline for the government and come as America’s competitors are refining hypersonic missiles capable of low-earth orbit. 

Service members could track the trajectory of warheads on rockets for ballistic missiles used in conflicts over the decades. But now, Tournear noted, when ultramodern missiles reach hypersonic speeds, they can use aeronautical forces to maneuver and are near-impossible to pinpoint and follow.

Currently, the military has limited capabilities to perform “that tracking aspect,” SDA’s director explained.

“Clearly we don’t have zero capability to do tracking. But most everything is designed around doing what we call ‘missile warning,’ which is initial launch. The satellites that we’re going to be launching and fielding can do that complete missile warning and missile tracking around the globe for as many missiles as could be launched against us,” Tournear said. “So, we will not only be able to do the old-school mission of missile warning, detect the launch and predict the impact point, but we’ll be able to detect it as it’s maneuvering and changing its impact point and be able to send that down and be able to tell an interceptor exactly where that missile is headed.” 

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New acquisition exec for US military space programs to tackle ‘disconnect’ between satellites, ground systems https://fedscoop.com/new-acquisition-exec-for-us-military-space-programs-to-tackle-disconnect-between-satellites-ground-systems/ Fri, 24 Jun 2022 19:48:51 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=54356 Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition Frank Calvelli has five top priorities as he begins his new role.

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Integrating the nation’s space architecture into other warfighting domains and improving connections between ground-based and space-based systems are among the top priorities for America’s first military space-focused acquisition executive in his early days on the job.

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition Frank Calvelli detailed those initial aims on Friday during his first public speaking engagement in this brand-new position, in which he will help set the long-term direction for Space Force procurement.

“We seem to have a disconnect with space and ground systems where we will want something but the ground system is just not ready yet, or the user terminal is just not ready yet,” Calvelli said during a Mitchell Institute event. One of his top goals will be “to ensure that the space and ground systems come together as an integrated system so that when we launch the systems, we can take full advantage of them.”

Calvelli said reading a lot of federal watchdog reports helped him come to that conclusion.

Integrating America’s space architecture into other warfighting domains to give the military more of an advantage across the spectrum of operations will also be critical, he said.

Improving on those integration issues are two of his top five priorities that align with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s recently shared operational imperatives to help the Pentagon more rapidly deploy technologies to deter adversaries as warfare capabilities evolve. Calvelli first mentioned his priorities at his confirmation hearing last month, but expanded on them during the forum on Friday.

Another aim is delivering capabilities that are already in the works.

“One of my top priorities is executing — I need to deliver on the things that got started over the last couple of years, and I think it’s going to make our Space Force and our Department of the Air Force a much stronger organization in terms of capabilities for the warfighter,” he said.

Getting capabilities into the hands of troops faster, and improving program management and execution are other key focus areas.

“There really truly is a sense of urgency out there. I mean, we have threats against our systems, we have threats from near-peer adversaries. We need speed. We need execution,” he added.

“I think there’s no better way to actually get some speed than to actually deliver on your commitments and actually execute your programs on cost and schedule. So my … priority is to really drive project management discipline across the service,” Calvelli said.

Another top aim is to make the nation’s space architecture more resilient.

“That’s going to be key because our nation does depend on space, both in peace as well as times of crisis and conflict. So, it’s really important that space is always available to the nation no matter what the environment is,” he said. 

Congress mandated the creation of Calvelli’s new position in the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. He comes into the job as the military works to modernize its satellites and other key space assets, and buy sophisticated technologies to compete with competitors like China. Calvelli said he spent months preparing to take on the leadership position by reviewing and studying academic papers, government reports, news articles, speeches, hearings and more.

He also brings to the job more than 30 years of experience in the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) — which uses space assets for the U.S. intelligence community — and the CIA.

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Space Development Agency awards $324M contract for ‘most critical element’ of new satellite tranche https://fedscoop.com/space-development-agency-awards-324m-contract-for-most-critical-element-of-new-satellite-tranche/ Fri, 27 May 2022 16:30:28 +0000 https://fedscoop.com/?p=52926 General Dynamics Mission Systems was tapped to establish and sustain the ground operations and integration (O&I) segment of the initial tranche of the National Defense Space Architecture.

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The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency on Thursday awarded General Dynamics Mission Systems a $324.5 million contract to establish and sustain the ground operations and integration (O&I) segment of Tranche 1 of its National Defense Space Architecture, which will encompass a constellation of an estimated 166 satellites to support military personnel across the globe.

The contract includes a base amount of more than $162.9 million and more than $161.5 million in options.

Seven proposals were submitted by industry and evaluated by SDA for this latest competition.

“It’s worth noting that this O&I contract is among the first of SDA Tranche 1 award announcements — but it will not be the last,” an SDA official told reporters on Thursday on condition of anonymity. “SDA has put forth several major competition opportunities over the last year and the team remains hard at work selecting performers based on all the inputs received and expected.”

SDA’s envisioned National Defense Space Architecture encompasses a layered approach with multiple tranches of deployments. Eventually, it is expected to feature hundreds of satellites that will monitor targets like missiles and hypersonic vehicles, provide position, navigation and timing for military personnel in GPS-denied environments, and communicate with ground stations and other spacecraft.

“Every tranche can potentially have different satellite vendor providers. And so what we have done in our strategy is to build out a ground segment that incorporates open-architecture concepts, and develops interfaces that can be communicated and standardized so that the integration with all the different vendors as they come on board can feed into the overarching ground networking enterprise,” the SDA official noted.

The scope of this newly announced contract award involves producing a common ground architecture that integrates space- and ground-based segments from a number of vendors in various configurations and enables mission operations mesh networking control.

“The O&I contract really is the most critical element of Tranche 1, and it carries the highest risk for the overall Tranche 1 successful performance,” the official said.

As the O&I prime contractor, General Dynamics selected Iridium Communications as “a major teammate” in this project, the official confirmed. Other partners involved include KSAT, Emergent and Raytheon. 

Development work will be performed at various contractor facilities and then the overall operation will unfold at SDA networking centers located at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, and Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The O&I contractor will build out one operation center at each of those two facilities — and also establish multiple new ground stations, or data entry points.

While SDA typically acquires its satellites under fixed-price contracts, it opted for the O&I agreement with General Dynamics to be cost-plus, the official noted. 

“We decided that with the level of risk and the amount of development that needs to happen in order to build the ground architecture, there is a certain amount of risk that we do need to accept from the government perspective and allow for the development to take its course,” the official said.

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