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 an imperative to protect the national security of the U.S., 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 in the next few years alone.
Meanwhile, increasing competition in space means that U.S. assets are at risk from a variety of 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.
