In its quest to enable dynamic space operations, U.S. Space Command has asked for a demonstration by 2026 of a maneuvering satellite in space leading to this being a sustained capability by 2028, the command’s deputy chief said on Thursday.
A request for information was issued ahead of the 2022 holiday season to the military services and force providing organizations seeking the space maneuverability demonstration and a sustained maneuver capability for any platforms that will operate dynamically in space, Lt. Gen. John Shaw said during a virtual event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
USSPACECOM is articulating maneuverability as a requirement to the U.S. Space Force for platforms that need to be dynamic instead of positional, Shaw said.
Dynamic space operations “could be the most fundamental doctrinal shift that we’re probably going to see in the next four to five years,” he said.
Legacy space operations, which largely still exist today, are “positional space operations” where a platform has very limited range of maneuverability with its orbit, in large part because it only has a limited amount of fuel, he said.
“We launch a platform into orbit, and we tend to leave it right in that orbit,” Shaw said. “And the only energy state changes from that orbit tend to usually be station keeping maneuvers, maybe some slight repositioning depending on what you’re doing.”
Going forward, Shaw believes commercial satellites, satellite communications platforms and missile warning satellites will likely remain positional while other platforms such as those for space situational awareness or offensive operations “need to probably spend most of their lifetime” maneuvering.
USSPACECOM currently operates six Northrop Grumman [NOC]-built Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites it uses to help keep tabs on the space domain. The GSSAP birds have some basic maneuverability to look at other platforms to check out if something is wrong with a U.S. asset or if another satellite is behaving suspiciously, Shaw said.
However, the GSSAP satellites are constrained by their fuel supply and the need to keep them operating for a certain number of years, which means nursing their fuel consumption and maybe not being able to execute a mission that Space Command would otherwise want done, Shaw said.
“We can’t have those constraints in the future,” he said.
Shaw outlined two solution sets to enhance dynamic space operations. The first is refueling satellites while they are in orbit, which would allow for a greater range of operations.
“They’d be operating at maximum thrust levels and delta-v levels that are unlike anything we’re doing right now,” he said.
Second is “commoditization,” which means launching satellites more frequently, Shaw said. A GSSAP satellite today may need to be replaced in two weeks “because I’ll fly the heck out of it, he said. “It’s going to empty that gas tank in a hurry, right?”
Shaw said he is not as concerned with what solution U.S. Space Force provides his command but that it solves his maneuver challenge.
“Our demand signal is not that I want to extend the lifetime of the satellite from X years to Y years,” he said. “No, my requirement is I want to maneuver continuously…It’s not related to lifetime. It’s not related to saving costs.”
Eventually, Shaw expects there will be a “logistics and sustainment layer in the space domain” that supports national security, civil and commercial needs.
“And I think it will actually help everybody operate in the domain more sustainably and more effectively,” he said.