{"id":69607,"date":"2025-02-27T19:11:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T19:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/02\/27\/sda-should-re-evaluate-launch-plans-as-key-tech-lags-watchdog-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:18:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:18:42","slug":"sda-should-re-evaluate-launch-plans-as-key-tech-lags-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2025\/02\/27\/sda-should-re-evaluate-launch-plans-as-key-tech-lags-watchdog-says\/","title":{"rendered":"SDA should re-evaluate launch plans as key tech lags, watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Space Development Agency should put its next launch of data transport and missile tracking satellites on hold until it demonstrates required laser communications capabilities with the spacecraft already in orbit, according to a government watchdog report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday issued a deep-dive review<\/a> of the Space Development Agency\u2019s progress toward demonstrating that its satellites can connect in space via a laser link<\/a>. The complex technology allows satellites to share data amongst themselves and with users on the ground using optical communications terminals installed on the spacecraft. The result is much faster, higher-volume data transmissions than traditional systems, which rely on radio frequency beams to send information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the satellites in SDA\u2019s constellation are built by multiple vendors, compatibility among terminals and the ability to communicate across a network of hundreds of satellites is key for their vision of high-speed data transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAO found that while SDA has made progress in some areas \u2014 like developing an optical terminal standard, testing the capability in a lab and maturing some of the enabling technologies \u2014 it hasn\u2019t been able to validate the technology on orbit as fast as it had hoped. That\u2019s in part because of supply-chain challenges that delayed the launch of its demonstration satellites, dubbed Tranche 0, disrupting its timeline for proving the technology works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbout one quarter into the 5-year design life of the first T0 satellites, limited capability has been demonstrated,\u201d GAO said. \u201cWe analyzed SDA\u2019s documentation and identified at least eight capabilities as central to demonstrating a mesh network with laser communications technology and could have been demonstrated in T0.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, GAO argues that SDA\u2019s mandate to rapidly deliver a proliferated satellite constellation \u2014 launching satellites with new capabilities on a two-year cycle \u2014 is part of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSDA\u2019s schedule-driven focus impedes its ability to incorporate lessons from each tranche, a key feature of iterative development,\u201d GAO said. \u201cAs a result, it has not fully incorporated lessons learned and corrective updates into these follow-on efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency has successfully demonstrated some laser communication capabilities. Last September, it conducted an optical crosslink test using its 27 Tranche 0 satellites. At the time, SDA Director Derek Tournear said the successful test marked the completion of all the agency\u2019s Tranche 0 demonstration targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in January, two SDA contractors \u2014 SpaceX and York Space Systems<\/a> \u2014 validated the ability to connect two of their satellites in orbit, proving a key linkage between spacecraft built by different vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\t