DARPA Seeks Tech to Reconstitute Space Force Satellites During Conflict

As the Space Force develops options to respond to real-time threats in orbit, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for technology that could support those efforts and expand the scope of gap-filler capabilities the U.S. military can leverage in a crisis. 

The agency issued a request for information this month that asks companies to provide “technical solutions and operational concepts and strategies” that could help the Space Force replace satellites lost or damaged in an attack on orbit. 

“The end goal is to develop and deploy effective response mechanisms to rapidly restore critical services to minimum levels or higher, on tactical timelines of hours to weeks, in response to demand surge needs, lost assets resulting from potential adversaries’ [anti-satellite] engagements, or orbital debris collisions,” DARPA said in a June 12 notice. 

The Space Force has several efforts underway prepping responses for threats. Perhaps the most prominent are the Tactically Responsive Space program, which has largely focused on tightening launch and satellite delivery processes; and the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, which is putting in place the procedural, contractual, and policy structures for the Space Force to tap into commercial services like satellite communications and space domain awareness in times of crisis. 

To date, the service has conducted two TacRS missions, Victus Nox in 2023 and Victus Diem earlier this year. During Victus Nox, it demonstrated the ability to work with satellite and launch companies to deliver a spacecraft in a matter of months and deploy it in low-Earth orbit just 27 hours after receiving launch orders. Victus Diem was a tabletop exercise designed to help solidify its responsive launch processes. 

The Space Force has at least four more TacRS missions planned to further push schedule boundaries and demonstrate new concepts. Next up is Victus Haze, which was originally supposed to launch last year but was delayed due to issues with its launch provider, Firefly. The service has said Victus Haze will fly this year, but a spokesperson did not immediately confirm the general timeframe for that mission. 

Meanwhile, the Space Force has awarded initial CASR contracts to four space domain awareness companies to pilot the commercial reserve fleet concept. The service plans to issue a solicitation this year to scale the capability and will also start a pilot for the next capability area, which it hasn’t named. 

DARPA’s goal through its request for info, called Rapid Reconstitution of Space Services, is to focus on the technologies that could enable the Space Force to quickly adapt and continue providing key capabilities in the aftermath of, for example, an attack on its satellites.

“TacRS and CASR are working on improvements to address current barriers to space launch and to space operations support with commercial providers,” DARPA program manager Steven Chambers told Air & Space Forces Magazine in a statement. “This RFI is interested in expanding the scope to explore technologies that can address additional roadblocks. DARPA’s goal is to develop technologies and transition compelling new capabilities to the military services.”

The RFI lists 20 wide-ranging examples of technologies and concepts DARPA is interested in, including:

Alternative positioning, navigation, and timing
Technologies for very low-Earth orbit operations
Cost-effective spacecraft to enable large-scale constellations
Launch vehicle payload integration
Spacecraft survivability and resiliency
Radiation-hardened electronics

DARPA notes that launch infrastructure constraints and the growing demand for lift capacity means that the Space Force needs access to more reliable, resilient, and flexible space systems that can be assembled, launched, and deployed quickly. 

“Reconstitution solutions must consider existing architecture integration,” DARPA notes in the request. “Possible solutions could be realized with reconfigurable, software-defined, multifunctional, and multi-mission payloads, as well as proliferated/mesh architectures and rapid on-orbit deployment concepts.”

Chambers said the RFI isn’t connected to a larger DARPA project, but rather is a way for the agency to generate innovative ideas and keep industry informed of its research interests. He also noted that responses can include more mature, at-the-ready solutions as well as more nascent technologies.