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One of the challenges of using commercial infrastructure is that ground control systems developed for military satellites cannot communicate with commercial antennas.
WASHINGTON – The ground stations and tracking antennas that the U.S. military relies on to communicate with its satellites – known as the Satellite Control Network, or SCN – are decades old and lack the capacity to track the expected growth in space activities.
There are seven SCN sites located in the United States and around the world. About 15 large satellite dishes at these sites control more than 190 military and government satellites in multiple orbits.
“Certainly the Satellite Control Network is a venerable system that has been around for a long time. So we have multiple efforts underway to make sure it is ready for the future we find ourselves in now, ”said Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander of the United States Space Operations Command last month. , during the 36th Space Symposium.
The seven remote monitoring stations monitor the position of the satellites and control the propulsion, thermal and other systems of the spacecraft. Since antennas can only talk to one satellite at a time, they have limited capacity to transmit and receive telemetry, tracking, and control data.
Whiting said Space Force operators were looking for ways not to overload the system.
“We’ve worked with the squadrons that fly the satellites to make sure they don’t come onto the network until they absolutely have to,” said Whiting. “There was a time when we had a lot of extra capacity and you could just do extra ‘health states’ on your satellites,” he added.
“We are trying to reduce the demand signal,” Whiting said. “And we are looking at new capabilities to come, such as phased array antennas that would give us a significant increase in capacity, as well as partnerships with commercial and civil organizations to use their satellite control networks.”
Fred Taylor, vice president of space and cyber operations at Viasat Government Systems, said the time slots for using DoD’s satellite tracking stations are limited. “It can be difficult to get the openness you need, when you need it for your mission. A missed contact can have dire consequences.
Viasat is one of the many companies that provide commercial antennas and ground services to complement the SCN.
Buy equipment or use commercial services?
Space Force officials said the SNA modernization strategy would include a mix of new equipment purchases and increased commercial services.
Over the past two years, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit and Space Systems Command have been examining options to replace existing satellite dishes with modern electronic antennas. phased networks that can maintain contact with multiple satellites in different orbits and frequency bands.
After evaluating phased array antennas from several vendors, the The Space Force Space Systems Command terminated the program. A new supply is currently managed by the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, a separate organization that acquires classified technologies.
The Space Force-led project to evaluate phased array antennas – known as MBMM, short for multi-mission multi-band – ended in February, Lt. Col. Louis Aldini, chief of equipment for the transporting data to Space Systems Command’s Enterprise Corps, said in a statement to News.
“During the life of the contract, MBMM has demonstrated phased array technology for transmit and receive capabilities with live DoD assets,” said Aldini. “Although SSC no longer pursues the MBMM, we continue to work in partnership with Space RCO to share relevant information, knowledge and lessons learned from the initial MBMM effort. “
A spokesperson for Space RCO said the agency could not comment on its plans to modernize the satellite control network.
“We have a related supply, but it is not reincarnated by MBMM,” the spokesperson said.
To supplement the capacity of SCN tracking stations, the Space Force can tap into the Commercial Augmentation Services (CAS) program.
The CAS program began in 2016 when the Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Braxton Science and Technology Group an innovation research contract for a small company to determine how to augment the military satellite control network with commercial antennas.
Braxton in 2019 was awarded a $ 14 million contract to expand the CAS. The company was acquired in October 2020 by Parsons Corp.
Ed Baron, former chairman of Braxton who now heads the CAS program at Parsons, said News that the military is not taking full advantage of the available commercial capacity.
“It’s difficult for satellite operators to schedule time on commercial systems,” he said. The SNA is overtaxed and meanwhile the commercial industry is offering lower and lower services, he added.
Baron said MBMM’s effort to acquire phased array antennas was “a great program to invest in, but commercial exploitation gives them access to hundreds of antennas.” Phased networks each cost tens of millions of dollars, he said, so the government should consider the economic benefits of using commercial services.
For the CAS program, Parsons works with commercial providers Intelsat, Viasat, and Kongsberg Satellite Services.
One of the challenges of using commercial infrastructure is that ground control systems developed for military satellites like GPS cannot communicate with commercial antennas. Braxton has developed software to make commercial antennas compatible with government systems. “So any of their existing ground systems can now talk to a commercial antenna and use a commercial antenna to talk to the spacecraft,” Baron said.
Cultural resistance to commercial services
Even though Braxton resolved the technology divide, the Space Force was slow to adopt commercial capabilities, Baron said. There is still an internal debate as to whether CAS should be treated as a traditional acquisition “where you take the system to full testing, or do you treat it more like a commercial capability?”
By comparison, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for decades have relied on commercial services to command and control their satellites, Baron said. Most of the ground systems the Space Force uses today weren’t designed to communicate with sales people, “so the protocols don’t work.”
Parsons currently has “10 antennas configured for them to use,” he said. But demand has been slow. “We have three more online, so there will be 13 branches. We haven’t set aside a single minute of time for them in probably a year, ”said Baron.
“People are asking for commercial capabilities,” he said. “This is the one we would like to see them use more of, and we think it can save a lot of taxes.”
Craig Miller, president of Viasat Government Systems, said Parsons’ software has helped simplify the time planning process on commercial branches.
The problem isn’t just the technical incompatibility between government and business systems, Miller said. “The biggest challenge for the Space Force is cultural,” he added. “This is something that senior leaders have publicly acknowledged and it remains an obstacle to taking full advantage of commercial capabilities. “
Despite some efforts to take advantage of trade capabilities, “some resistance persists due to outdated processes,” Miller said.
Another business option is offered by Atlas Space Operation, a company that operates a global network of 30 satellite antennas and has a software platform that automates the planning process.
“Our experience working with the Air Force shows that accessing commercial systems is still very manual and very slow,” said Atlas CEO Sean McDaniel.
Atlas won a small business innovation research contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory to demonstrate the software platform, McDaniel said. “We provide DoD access not only to commercial networks, including our own, but also to government-owned networks, civilian antennas, as well as DoD antennas through a unified access platform.”
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