Pentagon, NASA removes barriers to joint space projects

To drive the changes is action by Moscow and Beijing to challenge US space interests with anti-satellite weapons, support capabilities and other potentially hostile technologies. These secret systems, often focused by specially trained forces focused on space domination, threaten U.S. military and private assets in orbit, according to a series of reports from the Pentagon, the White House National Space Council and industry study groups. As a result, the Pentagon intends to leverage civilian expertise and programs to gain a foothold in this emerging war zone.

The Space Force is the center of the action. General John Raymond, chief operating officer of the military branch, recently unveiled a research partnership with NASA aimed at protecting satellites from lasers or cyber attacks. Eventually, according to government and industry officials informed, civil-military cooperation is expected to extend to the defense of planned NASA bases on the lunar surface, as well as the protection of U.S. operations envisaged to extract water or minerals there. .

Large and small contractors are seizing the opportunities to merge military and non-military technologies. This includes established military suppliers who already have a foothold in both camps, such as Northrop Grumman Corp.

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, the Dynetics unit of Leidos Holdings Inc.

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and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Smaller companies like Maxar Technologies Holdings Inc., meticulous robotic manufacturer Astrobotic Technology Inc. and small-satellite manufacturer Blue Canyon Technologies, recently acquired by Raytheon Technologies. Corp.

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, also try to diversify in the same way.

Based on initial NASA and military technology, Northrop Grumman demonstrated the commercial utility of coupling a new propulsion system to an aging satellite with depleted fuel reserves, as a way to keep the spacecraft in orbit beyond its intended lifespan . “We are very excited about where this is going” in terms of the government’s acceptance of fillers and mounting options in orbit, said Tom Wilson, vice president of strategic space systems.

“We have a lot of talks,” he said, “with the Department of Defense, the national security community and NASA.”

The most dramatic evidence of the shift in US policy is to ‘see the barriers between civilian, military and commercial space disintegrate in terms of an integrated strategy for our country’, said Pam Melroy, a former astronaut and former official of the Pentagon and industry, said: tank conference in January.

“Things are moving from ideas to real programs,” said Joel Sercel, a space entrepreneur who previously worked for the Pentagon and NASA.

Industry and government officials said they expected the trend under President Biden to accelerate, mainly because lawmakers and the military appear strongly behind such an integrated approach in a disputed military arena.

“We now have the potential adversaries who want to deny us use of space” for military and commercial purposes, General David Thompson, the Pentagon’s vice president of operations, said at an industry conference last year.

When President Dwight Eisenhower set up NASA as an independent agency in 1958, he used strong military and congressional pressure to make it part of the Pentagon, said historian Susan Eisenhower, who wrote books about her grandfather’s leadership style. has. Instead, he wanted a firewall between them to allow countries to share science, she said in a speech late last year.

For more than six decades, the U.S. government followed that principle, despite the moves of Beijing and Moscow to report military and civilian efforts. The U.S. astronaut corps has always included many military officers, some former NASA scientists quietly shared data with military counterparts, and the now retired Space Shuttle fleet was supposed to launch Pentagon satellites. But today, veteran industry and government experts describe the collaboration as much more extensive, covering the emerging capabilities, such as restoring and reusing satellites in orbit, or moving them around with nuclear power. Intelligence agencies are more involved than ever in the use of civilian technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotic capabilities, and production knowledge.

“Yes, we do science, reconnaissance and discovery,” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said at a government and industry meeting in September. He stressed how well the Pentagon and NASA are working together. “What I hope people take away from this discussion,” he said. Bridenstine said, referring to NASA, that “we are an instrument of national power.”

George Stafford, a co-founder of Blue Canyon, sees that NASA and the Pentagon use the same ordinary, small satellite core for a variety of applications. Military leaders need the knowledge of NASA to achieve some of their goals. For example, they need to “visit NASA to gain the necessary expertise” to work in the lunar environment, Stafford said in an interview. “It has to be the kind of relationship,” he added, because “our opponents are expanding their scope” to try to control the space around the moon.

Steve Cook, deputy group president of Dynetics, considers the orbital transfer of supercooled fuel, 3D imaging of the lunar surface and nuclear propulsion as core technologies that span future military and NASA missions. He said White House and Space Force policies were aimed at harnessing the country’s best technical capabilities to establish human outposts on the moon and ultimately project American power deeper into space. Others see a priority in identifying benign foreign satellites of potential weapons.

Some veteran astronauts remain skeptical about how quickly tangible changes will materialize. There are a multitude of “very interesting and fun theoretical arguments” about such interpersonal teamwork, said Doug Loverro, who has held senior management positions at NASA and in the Pentagon. “But the world is not there yet.”

For Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Maxar, more mundane goals such as assembling telescopes and reusing vehicles in space offer great potential for various parts of the US government. Howard McCurdy, a space historian who teaches at the American University, sees the inevitable blurring of once clear distinction between civilian and military initiatives taking place in France, Japan and other countries.

“You will see more dual-use civilian and military technology” by countries around the world, he said.

Some goals are more aspiring than immediately realistic. NASA and the space force are finally providing joint programs to protect the Earth from potentially catastrophic collisions with asteroids. The Pentagon has hired a contractor to design a mini-space station to investigate production and training in an orbit.

Write to Andy Pasztor by [email protected]