Space Force to Prototype Software Fusing Commercial and Military Space Tracking Data

The Space Force plans to develop new prototype software that automates the integration of commercial and military space tracking data, aiming to deliver more timely and more accurate information on objects in orbit. The service intends to launch the prototype software environment later this fall.

Mission Delta 2, which organizes, trains and equips Guardians for space domain awareness operations, is driving the effort. The unit includes the 18th and 19th Space Defense Squadrons, which operate the Space Surveillance Network of telescopes and radars around the globe along with the software systems used to analyze data on space objects, particularly those operated by potential adversaries.

Col. Barry Croker, who heads Mission Delta 2, said Thursday that the plan is to build a minimum viable product that can be up and running quickly. Speaking on the margins of the annual AMOS conference in Maui, Croker said his top priority is improving support to space control operations. To do that, he described having a bias towards timeliness rather than seeking the highest accuracy levels as current software and processes for analyzing military data do. The prototype could include lower fidelity but faster observations and analysis now provided by commercial firms.

"I now have the opportunity to get a more timely state of something, even if it's not perfect," Croker said, citing examples such as a new debris cloud or a whole bunch of newly launched satellites. "Now I can start to have a more timely indication of what's going on. So that's the number one focus."

At present, the Space Force acquires commercial space tracking information through the Joint Commercial Operations cell and houses it in the cloud-based Unified Data Library. That data is not fused directly into operational space domain awareness computer systems, instead running on a parallel system, according to Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of SPACECOM. Whiting told reporters Wednesday that current space domain awareness capabilities are not yet up to snuff to ensure precise targeting of adversary satellites, and that automatically integrating commercial data would help fill those gaps.

"We could take the largest step forward if we could just better integrate the [commercial] data and consistently fund the acquisition of that data, and then be able to drive it into our programs of record for space domain awareness," Whiting said. "That would be the biggest initial step we could take, and we could take that in the short term."

Croker explained that the reason for setting up a separate software environment is to ensure that tracking based on military sensors is not watered down by integrating commercial data that may not carry the same high accuracy. The goal, he said, is to start with the right environments to do that work without perturbing high accuracy collision avoidance missions.

Whiting characterized better integration of commercial data as the biggest initial step available in the near term to close gaps in space domain awareness, while Croker framed timely awareness of new debris clouds and satellite launches as the central benefit of the prototype.

The Space Force intends to launch the prototype software environment later this fall and build a minimum viable product that can be operating quickly.