U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) is to examine industry capacity to build small, “highly maneuverable” geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) communications satellites having a power level of three kilowatts or less and weighing a maximum of 1,100 pounds, including a 440 pound payload.
SSC’s commercial satellite communications office (CSCO) “is seeking sources capable of supporting a Department of Defense effort launching and maintaining communications satellites that allow for greater maneuverability and smaller size than traditional GEO satellites,” according to an Oct. 18 business notice on SSC’s “MicroGEO” effort. “As the national security of the United States and its mission partners becomes ever more reliant on space-based capabilities, it is necessary to move in the direction of resilient constellations that can offer advanced capabilities.”
“The SSC CSCO is seeking information for potential sources to provide support for a new class of commercially offered satellite communication services supported by GEO satellites utilizing a constellation of small satellites capable of maneuvering between International Telecommunication Union (ITU) assigned orbital slots in the GEO arc,” the notice said. “Increased maneuverability utilizing decentralized and spatially dispersed small satellites is imperative for the future resilience of both the constellation and the communications support for any user without impact to existing user equipment and gateways.”
SSC wants industry responses by Nov. 16 to help the command build the MicroGEO acquisition strategy.
“SSC CSCO requires the ability to acquire satellite services in all available transmission bands, to include but not limited to, Ka-band, Ku-band, C-band, X-band, UHF, etc.,” the business notice said. “Describe your experience and ability to support the widest range of transmission bands available, to include military Ka-band and X-band frequencies. Please include a description of spectrum licenses and orbital slot assignments you already have in place that can be used in providing the contemplated capabilities, as well as your ability to support obtaining additional licenses and assignments as may be needed.”
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said on Oct. 18 that he wants Space Force to finalize a commercial space strategy by the end of the year and that he is seeking significant revisions to the draft strategy.
“I didn’t think it [the draft] provided the necessary specificity that would would really help industry give us what we needed,” Saltzman told a Center for A New American Security forum. “Let’s provide some more specificity and tangible guidance that I think industry is looking for from us. [There were] simple questions that I asked–‘Do we procure data the same way that we procure software?’ and ‘Are we looking for commercial services or commercial assets to be given to the government?’ And then you say, ‘How do I decide? What are the inherently governmental functions that have to be performed by either the military or Space Force versus what services could I outsource and let industry do for us and I just pay as I go?’ We didn’t have really good solid answers for that.”
“There are areas we do like we have decided launch services is something we’re going to provide,” he said. “We pay for it, and then industry launches our satellites. With space domain awareness, do we want a commercial entity to do collision avoidance determination? They’re capable of it, but that might be an inherently governmental function, if you start thinking about hostile actions that might be collision intensive.”
“I just felt it was important that we answered those questions first so that when we say what we need to industry we can say it with enough specificity that we can really get what we’re looking for,” Saltzman said of Space Force’s draft commercial space strategy. “It was a lot of aspirational kinds of discussions [like] ‘We want imagery. We want SATCOM.’ Well, do you wanna lease bandwidth, or do you wanna buy a satellite?’ It [the draft] was just about getting the next level of specificity.”