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New partnerships<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Defense Department is looking to industry for the ability to inexpensively deploy and operate the next generation of satellites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCommercial partnership and collaboration is vitally important to [Air Force Space Command\u2019s] ability to succeed in our mission and, more importantly, move forward in a manner that outpaces our strategic competitors,\u201d Gen. John W. Raymond, the head of Air Force Space Command, told the House Armed Services strategic force subcommittee in March 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Budget analysts endorsed this approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Government Accountability Office report released in July 2018 found that \u201cusing commercial satellites to host government sensors or communications packages \u2026 may be one way DoD can achieve on-orbit capability faster and more affordably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report cited Pentagon estimates that the use of commercially hosted payloads could save the Pentagon several hundred million dollars. Broadband communication is one area that some say may be ripe for commercial engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c<\/b>We have a base in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan. How do we get data to and from that place? It really makes sense for the military to look at purchasing commercial bandwidth, because that is something that is already widely available from a commercial standpoint,\u201d Weeden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representatives from industry say today\u2019s satellite providers could easily and cost-effectively pivot to be even more supportive of the military mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn architecture for the future in ISR, communication, PNT or any function \u2014 it doesn\u2019t need to be exclusively military or exclusively commercial. It needs to be an integrated architecture that leverages the best of breed,\u201d said Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president of government strategy and policy at Inmarsat Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather than wholly own and operate satellites as it has in the past, the military could look to a hybrid business model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to leverage existing assets until the end of their lives, while at the same time achieving interoperability with a diversity of sources,\u201d Cowen-Hirsch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe military could partner with the commercial industrial base to build faster, cheaper and more responsive solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A satellite architecture comprised of various-sized constellations, supported by an effective and efficient military-industry partnership, sounds promising. However, some in the national security community who envision such a future and also point to several hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sticking points<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military has long warned that a plethora of tiny satellites will likely introduce new complexity in the management of space assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe expect to be tracking 250,000 to 500,000 objects down to the size of my fist and that\u2019s a significant problem. A lot of people are wondering whether we\u2019ll ever be able to find a launch corridor to launch something into when you actually can see what\u2019s up there,\u201d said Gen. John E. Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command and a former head of Air Force Space Command, speaking at the Small Satellite Conference in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military may need to rethink key elements of space operations in order to utilize small satellites effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because they will fly in lower orbits, small satellites won\u2019t need as much power (that\u2019s a plus) but they\u2019ll also have reduced visibility. \u201cYou are constantly moving over the Earth, so you have to have enough satellites so at least one is always in view of the user,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others question whether the military will be able to overcome its own inertia in order to shift the satellite paradigm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe way the U.S. military and especially the U.S. Air Force has done satellite acquisitions in the past is very much in a big-project mold. They create a whole constellation to deliver a specific capability, along with a specialized ground control system,\u201d Weeden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBreaking that mindset is really difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This shift in perspective will be a prerequisite if the military is going to embrace a new satellite infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe focus has always been on creating these \u2018Battlestar Galactica\u2019 satellites, with these massive missions,\u201d Cowen-Hirsch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is military culture that says: \u2018My job is to fly this big satellite or to acquire new big satellites,\u2019 and the military doesn\u2019t change readily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to reposition, the military may especially need to develop a fresh perspective on the economics of satellite infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey need to break out of the sunk-cost evaluation, this fallacy that says: We have already spent so much money, we should not do any future investing in the same way,\u201d said Cowen-Hirsch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s true there is a very significant investment in the large architectures and you don\u2019t want to turn your back on that. But that shouldn\u2019t prevent you from making future investments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In any case, some say, cost ought not be prime consideration here. While a single small satellite is cheaper than a big one, a fleet of nano-satellites might not reduce the overall mission cost, and that might be acceptable to military leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about being cheaper; it\u2019s about being more resilient,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdversaries want to disrupt, degrade and destroy our space capabilities, and when you have just three or four satellites covering the whole, that\u2019s a vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pentagon is taking baby steps toward smaller satellites after previous iterations became oversized targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":63180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[163,36,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2220],"class_list":["post-34837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-space-report","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KZ7JVDJ7XZFUFNZLMMPCIY3DHY","arc_canonical_url":"\/c2-comms\/satellites\/2019\/04\/11\/when-it-comes-to-satellites-less-can-be-more\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n