At the Pentagon, NASA demolishes the barriers that hinder joint space projects

The reason for the changes is the actions of Moscow and Beijing to challenge American space interests with anti-satellite weapons, blocking capabilities and other potentially hostile technologies. These secret systems, often operated by specially trained forces focused on space domination, threaten both U.S. and private military assets in orbit, according to a series of reports from the Pentagon, the White House National Space Council and study groups in the United States. industry. As a result, the Pentagon intends to exploit civilian expertise and programs to help gain an edge in this emerging field of combat.

Space force is at the heart of the action. Gender. John Raymond, chief of operations for the new military, recently unveiled a research partnership with NASA aimed at protecting satellites from lasers or cyber attacks. Finally, according to government and industry officials briefed on the matter, civilian-military cooperation will extend to defending NASA’s planned lunar surface bases, as well as protecting US trade operations planned to extract water or minerals there.

Large and small contractors are maneuvering to take advantage of opportunities to merge military and non-military technologies. These include established military suppliers who already have a foothold in both camps, such as Northrop Grumman Body.

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, the dynamic unit of Leidos Holdings Inc.

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and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. from Elon Musk. Smaller companies, such as Maxar Technologies Holdings Inc., a manufacturer of robot-lander Astrobotic Technology Inc. and manufacturer of small satellites Blue Canyon Technologies, recently acquired by Raytheon Technologies Body.

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, seeks diversification in the same way.

Based on NASA and early military technology, Northrop Grumman demonstrated the commercial usefulness of attaching a new propulsion system to an old satellite with depleted fuel reserves as a way to keep the spacecraft in orbit beyond its intended lifespan. . “We are very excited about where it will go” in terms of the government’s acceptance of refueling and in-orbit assembly options, said Tom Wilson, Northrop’s vice president of strategic space systems.

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

The most dramatic evidence of US policy change is “tracking the barriers that fall between the civilian, military and commercial spheres in terms of an integrated strategy for our country,” said Pam Melroy, a former astronaut and former Pentagon and industry official. the January tank conference.

“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 have said they expect the trend to accelerate under President Biden, primarily because lawmakers and the military are strongly behind such an integrated approach in a contested military arena.

“We now have those potential opponents who are trying to deny the use of space,” for military and commercial purposes, said General David Thompson, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of space operations, at an industry conference last year.

When President Dwight Eisenhower created NASA as an independent agency in 1958, he exerted strong military and congressional pressure to join the Pentagon, said historian Susan Eisenhower, who wrote books about her grandfather’s leadership style. Instead, he “wanted a firewall between them” to allow countries to share science, she said in a discussion late last year.

For more than six decades, the US government has followed this principle, despite moves by Beijing and Moscow to combine military and civilian efforts. The US astronaut corps has always included many military officers, some former NASA scientists have quietly shared data with their military counterparts, and the now-withdrawn NASA space shuttle fleet should have launched Pentagon satellites. But today, veteran industry and government experts describe the cooperation as much broader, covering growing capabilities such as repairing and rebuilding satellites into orbit or moving them with nuclear power. Intelligence agencies are more involved than ever in the use of civil technology, including artificial intelligence, robotic capabilities and production knowledge.

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

George Stafford, co-founder of Blue Canyon, sees NASA and the Pentagon using the same small common satellite cores for a wide range of applications. Military leaders need NASA’s knowledge to achieve some of their goals. For example, “they have to go to NASA to get the expertise they need” to operate in the vicinity of the moon, Stafford said in an interview. “It has to be this kind of relationship,” he added, “because our opponents are expanding their scope” to try to control the space around the moon.

Steve Cook, deputy chairman of the Dynetics group, sees the orbital transfer of overheated fuel, 3D imaging of the moon’s surface and nuclear propulsion as core technologies covering future military and NASA missions. The White House and Space Force policy directives, he said, aim to harness the nation’s best technical capabilities to establish human outposts on the moon and, ultimately, to project US power deeper into space. Others see it as a priority in identifying benign satellites foreign to potential weapons.

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

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

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

Some goals are more aspirational than immediately realistic. NASA and the Space Force are finally providing joint programs to protect Earth from potentially cataclysmic collisions with asteroids. The Pentagon has hired a contractor to design a mini space station for production research and orbit training.

Write to Andy Pasztor at [email protected]