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INSIDE THE PENTAGON Air Force Seeking Support For Making 'TacSat-2' A Concept Demo Air Force officials are trying to drum up support for launching the second in a series of “tactical” satellites as a fiscal year 2005 advanced concept technology demonstration, according to defense sources. Dubbed “TacSat-2,” the small satellite is being hailed as another step toward developing low-cost, customized and rapidly deployable space capabilities for theater warfighters, who someday may place a number of these assets into orbit as they prepare for contingency operations. One of the chief proponents of making TacSat-2 an ACTD is Peter Teets, the Air Force under secretary and the Defense Department’s executive agent for space. In a March 1 memo soliciting support for the plan, Teets said TacSat demonstrations will be the “cornerstone” of efforts to “identify the processes and procedures required to rapidly provide warfighters with tailored space capabilities.” The under secretary also encourages Pentagon leaders to consider “including TacSats as recurring ACTDs over the next several years.” Experiments using TacSats could help the Air Force and other defense
organizations involved with the program flesh out a new business model
for designing, launching and operating space-based assets, called “Operationally
Responsive Space.” Embracing ORS would allow the United States to maintain space superiority into the foreseeable future, with readily available, adaptable and expendable small satellites -- for a variety of purposes -- augmenting the more strategic capabilities offered by traditional large satellites, some defense officials say. Dominance in space is one of the keys to ensuring victory on the battlefield, according to this view. Advances in information technology mean the “door for small, micro and nanosatellites is open, allowing us to redefine cost and mission criticality curves, increase transaction and learning rates and the ability to assume risk,” Cebrowski said at the hearing. His Office of Force Transformation (OFT) was the catalyst for the TacSat program. Air Force officials are taking ORS to heart as they work to further develop the Joint Warfighting Space concept, which was publicly unveiled by Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper in February. JWS involves fostering closer ties between the space community and air and surface warfighters, according to service officials (Inside the Pentagon, May 6, p1; and April 8, p5). The initiative also involves developing a JWS concept of operations, which could affect future TacSat activities, Lt. Gen. Dan Leaf, Air Force Space Command’s vice commander, told ITP May 3. “The people who are working TacSat-2 . . . will now synchronize their efforts with Joint Warfighting Space,” he said, adding the relationship between the two efforts is still provisional. The first two TacSats Much of the work on TacSat-2 is being done at the Air Force Research Laboratory, with help from the Naval Research Laboratory -- which functions as program manager for the effort -- and other defense components. It is intended to be a more robust capability than the first TacSat, which is expected to launch later this year from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, possibly in September. The Office of Force Transformation funded TacSat-1 with $15 million, aiming to move from payload design to launch within a year (ITP, Oct. 23, 2003, p19). “The synergistic relationship between TacSat-1 and TacSat-2 is what is really important,” Air Force Lt. Col. Jay Raymond, an OFT transformation strategist, told ITP May 12. “We have been able to incorporate an enhanced version of a TacSat-1 payload into the TacSat-2 satellite. “This represents a measurable increase in capability between the experiments,” he added. TacSat-1 is about 20 inches high and 40 inches in diameter. Featuring visible-light and infrared cameras, TacSat-1 will have its own Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNET, address, through which users can control the small satellite and access data. OFT has “forged a healthy relationship with [U.S.] Pacific Command to embed [TacSat] capabilities into [its] annual combatant commander exercises,” Cebrowski told lawmakers. TacSat-1 experiments also will involve taking atmospheric sensors -- those used in unmanned aerial vehicles or other aircraft, for example -- and building containment around them so they can withstand the rigors of space. The goal would be to network the space sensors with those deployed in UAVs and other systems. In one potential scenario, a space asset could fly over an area of interest. If it spots something, a UAV or other device would be cued to give it closer inspection, perhaps lingering until a threat is identified, Lloyd Feldman, OFT’s assistant director for science and technology, said in an April 26 interview. The Naval Research Lab notified OFT officials late last month the TacSat-1 payload has gone through final testing. Earlier this year, the launch had been delayed because of some technical hurdles in developing the Falcon I launch vehicle chosen to put the small satellite in orbit. El Segundo, CA-based Space X is producing the two-stage Falcon I and the “Merlin” engine powering the first stage. “Merlin” will be the second U.S.-made rocket booster engine to be developed and flown in more than 25 years, Elon Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, told ITP April 29. Building a new rocket engine is considered one of the more vexing challenges facing the TacSat effort, defense officials say. Space X decided a few years ago to construct its own engine because no existing systems “would have met the price target we have in mind” for Falcon I launches, Musk said. The company plans to offer customers less expensive access to space, he added. The Falcon I price is just under $6 million, not including range costs, which can vary depending on the launch site, according to a May 5 Space X announcement. Some of the most difficult problems in Merlin development had to do with its turbopump, which delayed Falcon I’s inaugural launch with TacSat-1 by several months, to this fall, defense sources say. Those problems were solved when the system was redesigned, according to the notice. “We have overcome the final major issue with our Merlin engine for flight,” it adds. Falcon I testing continues at the company’s 380-acre facility in central Texas. A new way of doing business In addition to putting TacSat-1 into orbit for experimentation, OFT officials want to “customize” DOD procedures for overseeing tactical satellite launches. The steps DOD normally takes to approve launches were developed for large satellites that took years to build and cost a fortune; they would not be suitable for TacSats, according to defense sources. “A lot of progress has been made in our institutional processes,” Cebrowski told the Senate panel. The Air Force “has provided outstanding support to our operationally responsive experiment. They have crafted a customized mission assurance approach for the oversight of a new commercial launch vehicle consistent with the nature of the TacSat-1 experiment,” he added. The new mission assurance process “focused on the safety of flight, and the ability . . . to accept some risk” on whether the payload makes it into orbit, Raymond said April 26. “It’s appropriate for the experimental nature of what we’re doing . . . and there’s a new threshold and a new balance of risk here,” Feldman said. Air Force officials also worked closely with Space X “to come up with innovative . . . processes that will ensure public safety,” Cebrowski said at the hearing. “This process is ongoing, and real organizational learning is happening.” OFT’s involvement with TacSat includes encouraging stronger relationships among service laboratories and spurring industry investment in the small satellite and launch vehicle business. While the office is not interested in managing a string of TacSats, it can be expected to continue acting as a catalyst for ideas that could keep the program moving forward, OFT officials said. One idea that OFT officials are eyeing is a standardized satellite bus. “Critical to achieving the agility and flexibility demanded by an Operational Responsive Space model [is developing] standards for modular/scalable satellite buses,” Cebrowski said. “This must be a part of our future plans and will allow us to increase the utility margin of smaller satellites.” The satellite bus is the backbone of the satellite. It carries the payload into space, holding all the parts together. Standardization and “modular interfaces” would decrease
development costs, foster industry involvement and “decrease the
time it [takes] to build a satellite to meet an operational commander’s
needs,” Raymond said. “What we want to have is a way we can concentrate on not having to build a unique satellite and bus every time we [want] a certain capability,” he said. “It would be like building Carnegie Hall every time you wanted to hear a symphony. In fact, we want to build one good Carnegie Hall and then concentrate on booking the bands, making sure they play to the right audience.” -- Keith J. Costa
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