Photo: Courtesy of The Aerospace Corporation
The modern space domain is rapidly changing, with new and evolving threats that must be addressed to ensure continued success for national security. In this environment, military space will need to become more interconnected and data-centric, according to respondents of Breaking Defense’s 2021 Military Space Survey.
The survey polled over 400 representatives across the government and commercial sectors on topics related to improving space acquisition, critical capabilities for the nation, most significant threats to the enterprise, and collaboration across different agencies.
The results echo many of the findings The Aerospace Corporation has observed through the breadth and depth of its work supporting government customers across diverse mission areas. As an example, Aerospace convened a virtual summit in October on “Delivering the Mission in the Space Information Age.” The summit, which involved senior leadership from military, civil, and commercial organizations, discussed themes such as cloud-based computing and connectivity, the importance of integrating data across missions and organizations, and how to meet the needs of the “end users” of space.
“One of our highest priorities is making sure that the data we have available – whether it’s used in powerful digital models or transformed into actionable information for the end user – can be effectively and efficiently shared with all stakeholders in the mission,” said Steve Isakowitz, President and CEO of Aerospace, in his opening comments.
Speakers at the summit asked the attendees to visualize a world where every sensor is connected to every shooter, every operations center, and every decision-maker, everywhere in the world, securely, in real-time. The Breaking Defense survey indicates that achieving this vision could be challenging, with 47% of respondents ranking the U.S. National Security Enterprise’s current data-processing posture as “adequate,” only slightly out-polling “poor.”
Photo: Courtesy of The Aerospace Corporation
More broadly, there was a recognition of the need to increase collaboration and integration across government agencies, advance digital capabilities, and leverage partnerships with new space participants to strengthen resiliency, agility and operational speed for the future of space.
Aerospace seeks opportunities to convene events like the summit to foster important discussions and collaboration at the highest level on topics that shape the future of space.
Space is a Team Effort
In the Breaking Defense survey, respondents identified cyberattacks atop the list of challenges to the National Security Space Enterprise, with over 75% of respondents indicating that cybersecurity is “extremely important” to space systems. In an informal poll conducted during the Aerospace summit, cybersecurity was the second-most listed challenge, after adversary threats but ahead of space debris and supply chain issues.
However, as attendees of the Aerospace summit learned, cybersecurity goes beyond deterring cyber attacks. To be actionable, data must be trustworthy. Expert speakers discussed how information, models, and algorithms for operational test and artificial intelligence are validated against real-world conditions.
Addressing these hard problems will require new approaches and solutions that leverage the entire space enterprise. Integration across agencies was a consistent theme of both the Breaking Defense survey and the Aerospace summit. “The boundaries that once separated national security, civil, commercial and even international space continue to blur, creating opportunities to partner in new ways to enhance our collective capabilities and resiliency,” said Dr. Wayne Goodman, Executive Vice President of Aerospace, at the summit.
Photo: Courtesy of The Aerospace Corporation
Both the survey and the summit highlighted the difficulties of inter-organizational cooperation. A poll during the summit showed a tie between “different customer requirements” and “organizational boundaries” as the top barriers to capability integration.
Almost 50% of respondents to Breaking Defense reported that the Intelligence Community, Air Force, and Space Force work moderately effectively together. However, roughly one-third believed that they either are “not effective at all” or only “slightly effective” at working together.
Different end-users have different needs, and agencies have slightly different ways of acquiring and using data. However, with good communication and an increased emphasis on interoperability, the space enterprise can be more than the sum of its parts.
“The digital transformation won’t reach its full potential if we aren’t able to move past the silos and stovepipes that we’ve operated in in the past,” Isakowitz said.
Supporting the Warfighter Where and How They Need It
To speed capability to the field, speakers at the summit called for a shift to more agile and iterative delivery cycles, with direct links between the user, the contractor, and the acquirer. Scientists and technologists must educate warfighters on the “art of the possible,” matching innovative solutions to real-world problems. Organizations cannot be paralyzed by risk. The risk of inaction is potentially worse than the risk of delay. The move to integrated, distributed, and interoperable systems allows space to meet end-user needs without every satellite being “bulletproof.”
“Today’s environment calls for us to think much more deeply about making sure we’re delivering the right thing, and not just [building] the thing right,” said Dr. Goodman.
The “end users” of space are also changing. Once the exclusive purview of government agencies, space will ultimately be the servant of commercial interests and the general public, according to a poll taken during the summit. Nearly 50% of respondents projected commercial and private businesses as the primary end users of space in 15 years, with the general public coming in second. National security organizations, civil agencies, and foreign interests together accounted for only about 20% of responses.
Similarly, the Breaking Defense survey highlighted the importance of commercial communication links in times of war. Nearly 50% of respondents rate commercial satellite communication as “extremely important” to their mission. In addition, over 85% of respondents indicate that commercial data as a service will be moderately to extremely important.
Space Requires Thinking Bigger
Both the Breaking Defense survey and the Aerospace summit paint a picture of an evolving space enterprise: one that is distributed, interoperable, and fully integrated into the information age. Increasingly, space’s end-users want services and intelligence, not just satellites and data. Ensuring success in that future requires new ways of thinking about what “success” really means.
Aerospace stands ready with its customers and partners to advance the integrated perspectives required to achieve end-to-end mission success. Leveraging its unique role as the FFRDC for space, Aerospace is working to connect diverse government agencies that have a shared purpose and is exploring how to augment existing capabilities with innovative commercial solutions. Through its work supporting government customers and its policy research through the Center for Space Policy and Strategy (CSPS), Aerospace is confident that it can help customers find solutions to the evolving challenges they face.
With Aerospace’s broad reach across the space enterprise, it is a responsibility the corporation embraces.
To learn more about how Aerospace is collaborating with government, industry, academia, and international partners, visit Aerospace.org.
