The Russian-Ukraine war, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, rival nations accelerating the new space race: Daily events highlight the imperative to modernize legacy space systems and develop new ones faster. The importance of the space domain continues to grow across many dimensions:
- Superior space domain awareness is imperative to protect the national security of the U.S., its allies, and partners.
- Space-based services are critical for government agencies, from the Department of Defense (DOD) to NASA, as well as businesses and citizens navigating daily life.
- Advances in space traffic management are essential to protect satellites on-orbit and the many slated to launch—an estimated 2,080 nanosats alone in the next few years.
Meanwhile, increasing competition in space means that U.S. assets are at risk from various attack vectors, from physical to electronic and cyber.
And the threat extends to Earth, as well. With ever-expanding reliance on electronic and cyber communications and the interoperability demands of Joint All-Domain Command and Control, the U.S. cannot afford to lose information-sharing and information dominance capabilities due to damaged or disabled satellites.
