The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to launch its latest technology challenge next month—a project meant to speed up development of systems that can operate beyond geosynchronous orbit.
SpaceWERX is leading the effort, dubbed Cislunar Prime. The space innovation hub is looking for commercial capabilities that could put the Space Force on a faster path toward cislunar operations in three focus areas:
- space domain awareness
- cislunar communications
- positioning, navigation, and timing
The tentative plan, according to an AFRL spokesperson, is to officially announce Cislunar Prime in December, solicit proposals in January, and begin awarding contracts next spring. The program has $30 million to fund 15 direct-to-phase-two Small Business Innovation Research contracts worth $2 million each.
The Space Force defines cislunar as the region of space past GEO and extending to the moon and beyond, hundreds of thousands of kilometers in distance and 1,728 times the volume of space complained within GEO. Conditions there present challenges for satellite operations like PNT and SDA, given its distance from the Earth and its unstable trajectories.
Speaking Oct. 21 at AFCEA’s Space Industry Days conference, Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Advanced Programs Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy said because of these dynamics, the Space Force needs a better understanding of how to operate in cislunar space.
“Space is often described as hard and difficult and a fight that we’re not seeing,” he said. “But I would characterize cislunar as even harder and more difficult, and we really don’t see what’s going on in that arena.”
The Space Force has a handful of active projects exploring cislunar operations, including AFRL’s Oracle program, which plans to launch its first satellite in December—a pathfinder for efficient cislunar mobility, navigation, and space domain awareness. Over the past year, the service has signaled it plans to ramp up cislunar research and development activities, driven in part by China’s plans to establish a presence beyond GEO and on the moon.
Purdy said the Pentagon’s posture toward cislunar operations and planning has shifted significantly over the past year. He cited President Donald Trump’s December 2025 executive order that emphasized the importance of cislunar operations, as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine’s acknowledgement of cislunar as a “warfighting domain” during AFA’s Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in September.
Now, the service is looking to quickly fund satellites and software that could be ready for operations as soon as 2029, Purdy said. Beyond Cislunar Prime, the Space Force and its newly established Cislunar Coordination Office have two forthcoming requests for information—the first focused on existing cislunar hardware and software that could fly in the next two to three years, and the second for AI and autonomous processing capabilities.
“We’re looking for existing commercial or near-commercial means, non-developmental solutions, hardware with actual relevant evidence behind it, software that doesn’t need a huge amount of work … and ground systems,” Purdy said. “This isn’t a four- or five-year science project. This is about getting capability out soon.”