The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
The ability to repair and refuel satellites has for decades been an area of interest for the U.S. military, but never a dedicated mission. In recent years, U.S. Space Command officials have grown more vocal calling for maneuverable satellites designed to operate in an increasingly hostile space environment and emphasized the role that an on-orbit servicing architecture could play in enabling that capability. The Space Force has acknowledged the operational imperative and pursued one-off capability demonstrations but hasn’t revealed a long-term plan to develop the supporting architecture or invested sufficient resources.
The Mitchell Institute report, written by Senior Resident Fellow for Space Studies Charles Galbreath, argues that crafting a strategy for dynamic space operations is key to the Space Force’s ability to move and operate freely in the domain and urges the service to act quickly to determine its next steps.
“Hesitance to fully implement dynamic space operations at scale risks ceding valuable time and initiative to adversaries,” the report states. “The Space Force must move decisively to embrace all opportunities of this new operational paradigm.”
Organizationally, the report recommends the Space Force establish a program office dedicated to creating foundational in-space logistics infrastructure, as well as the concepts and doctrine to support operations.
It further argues that Space Command should continue to advocate for capabilities to support dynamic space operations, and the Space Force should closely coordinate with Space Command to ensure that its needs are translated into requirements and ultimately fielded systems.
While discussions around dynamic space operations often focus on in-space capabilities like satellite refueling and robotic arms that can upgrade spacecraft, the report notes that ground-based command and control systems, launch architecture, and advanced technologies like laser communication links are all crucial to enabling satellites and other on-orbit systems.
To that end, it recommends broad investment across those segments. In space, it calls for more funding for on-orbit refueling and in-space assembly capabilities and proposes the service operationalize systems like the X-37B spaceplane, which to date has only supported experimental missions.
It also suggests the service should continue to expand its advanced command and control and laser communications capabilities and broaden launch access.
“Improvements to increase the flexibility and resilience of the orbital, terrestrial, link, and launch segments are essential to prevent exploitation of a weakness in a singular facet that could undermine the whole architecture,” the report states. “Several of these improvements are essential to integrating maneuver and surprise to create compounding dilemmas for adversaries and deny them access to and confidence in their space systems.”
Speaking with reporters prior to the report’s public release Nov. 6, Galbreath said that while the Space Force’s budget is small relative to the other military services, cost doesn’t have to be a major impediment to designing systems that can be refueled or upgraded. Compared to launching large fleets of satellites that have to be replaced every few years, designing spacecraft with built-in refueling ports or augmentation interfaces is perhaps the more cost-effective option in the long run.
“If you invest a little bit more to make them refuelable and create the refueling architecture, yes, there’s a higher initial cost—as much as twice as much—but over time, that quickly decreases and is much less than the full replacement cost,” Galbreath said Nov. 4. “These are some of the factors planners need to be considering.”
Beyond putting systems in space, Galbreath noted that as the service considers its longer-term plans, officials may want to factor in the role that a Guardian in space could play in DSO missions. The service does not currently have plans to deploy Space Force personnel to space, but Galbreath said he thinks that could be a need in the future—especially as the threats to space assets grow increasingly complex.
“If we’re talking about a more dynamic threat environment, we may not have the full suite of tools in a robotic or autonomous system that we would need to repair or return a capability to operations,” he said. “The way a human can think on the fly, can adapt, I think, is something we can’t ignore.”
