Posted on Jun 25, 2021
Military building an appetite for commercial space services - SpaceNews
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The U.S. Space Force is eager to tap into the vibrant commercial market for space services enabled by increasingly capable small satellites and cheaper access to orbit.
Commercial services of particular interest to the military include imagery, analytics, weather data and broadband from low-Earth orbit constellations.
“It’s really crucial that we figure out how to successfully integrate commercial data and services into our architectures and concepts of operations,” said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, head of the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), the procurement arm of the Space Force.
The Space Force already is a major consumer of commercial space launch services and geostationary satellite communications but it is now looking to “go bigger and bolder,” Thompson said, calling this a matter of national security.
Commercial services of particular interest to the military include imagery, analytics, weather data and broadband from low-Earth orbit constellations.
“It’s really crucial that we figure out how to successfully integrate commercial data and services into our architectures and concepts of operations,” said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, head of the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), the procurement arm of the Space Force.
The Space Force already is a major consumer of commercial space launch services and geostationary satellite communications but it is now looking to “go bigger and bolder,” Thompson said, calling this a matter of national security.
Military building an appetite for commercial space services - SpaceNews
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel The Space Force already is a major consumer of commercial space launch services and geostationary satellite communications but it is now looking to “go bigger and bolder,” Thompson said, calling this a matter of national security.
The military’s modernization plans increasingly depend on technologies funded by the private sector, Thompson noted. The Space Force is responsible for providing satellite-enabled capabilities to the entire Defense Department, and the acquisition of new space services will be a central piece of that effort.
The next step will be to organize a new office focused on the procurement of commercial space services. This office will be part of the future Space Systems Command, said Gen. David Thompson, the Space Force vice chief of space operations.
Space Systems Command will be established in Los Angeles later this year and will replace SMC. Thompson said the plan is to expand SMC’s existing commercial satellite communications services office so it can acquire other types of commercial capabilities.
One of those services will be “tactical ISR,” short for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Tactical ISR would support military units in the field that currently don’t have direct access to satellite imagery. Field commanders want visual imagery but also radar, radio-frequency and other types of data collected by Earth observation satellites that capture images in short time intervals.
The military’s modernization plans increasingly depend on technologies funded by the private sector, Thompson noted. The Space Force is responsible for providing satellite-enabled capabilities to the entire Defense Department, and the acquisition of new space services will be a central piece of that effort.
The next step will be to organize a new office focused on the procurement of commercial space services. This office will be part of the future Space Systems Command, said Gen. David Thompson, the Space Force vice chief of space operations.
Space Systems Command will be established in Los Angeles later this year and will replace SMC. Thompson said the plan is to expand SMC’s existing commercial satellite communications services office so it can acquire other types of commercial capabilities.
One of those services will be “tactical ISR,” short for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Tactical ISR would support military units in the field that currently don’t have direct access to satellite imagery. Field commanders want visual imagery but also radar, radio-frequency and other types of data collected by Earth observation satellites that capture images in short time intervals.
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