Pentagon, NASA are tearing down barriers that hinder joint space projects

Drivers of the changes are moves by Moscow and Beijing to challenge US space interests with anti-satellite weapons, interference capabilities and other potentially hostile technology. According to a series of reports from the Pentagon, the White House National Space Council and industry study groups, these secret systems, which are often run by specially trained military forces focused on the domination of space, are threatening. As a result, the Pentagon plans to tap into civilian expertise and programs to gain an edge in this emerging war combat domain.

The Space Force is central to the action. General John Raymond, the fledgling military’s chief of operations, recently unveiled a research partnership with NASA to protect satellites from lasers or cyber-attacks. According to government and industry briefed on the matter, civil-military cooperation is expected to eventually extend to the defense of planned NASA bases on the lunar surface, as well as to protect U.S. commercial operations aimed at getting there extract water or minerals.

Contractors big and small are maneuvering to take advantage of the opportunities to merge military and non-military technologies. They include established military suppliers who already have a foothold in both camps, such as Northrop Grumman Corp.

NIGHT 1.99%

, the Dynetics unit of Leidos Holdings Inc.

LDOS -0.94%

and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Smaller companies such as Maxar Technologies Holdings Inc., a closely-held robotic lander maker Astrobotic Technology Inc. and small satellite producer Blue Canyon Technologies, recently acquired by Raytheon Technologies Corp.

RTX 0.34%

, also try to diversify in the same way.

Building on the original NASA and military technology, Northrop Grumman has demonstrated the commercial utility of connecting a new propulsion system to an aging satellite with depleted fuel reserves as a way to keep that spacecraft in orbit beyond its intended lifespan . “We are very excited about where that will go” in terms of government acceptance of refueling and orbiting options, said Tom Wilson, Northrop 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 “looking at the barriers between civil, military, and commercial space in terms of an integrated strategy for our country,” said Pam Melroy, a former astronaut and former Pentagon official. and industry. tank conference in January.

“Things are changing from ideas to actual programs,” said Joel Sercel, an aerospace entrepreneur who previously worked for the Pentagon and NASA.

Industry and government officials said they expect the trend to accelerate under President Biden, especially as lawmakers and the military strongly support such an integrated approach in a contentious military arena.

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

When President Dwight Eisenhower founded NASA as an independent agency in 1958, he resisted strong military and congressional pressure to make it part of the Pentagon, said historian Susan Eisenhower, who has written books on her grandfather’s leadership style. Instead, he “wanted a firewall between them” so countries could share the science, she said in a lecture late last year.

For more than six decades, the US government has followed that principle despite moves by Beijing and Moscow to bring military and civilian efforts together. The US Astronaut Corps has always served many military officers, some earlier NASA scientists quietly shared data with military counterparts, and NASA’s now-retired Space Shuttle fleet had to launch Pentagon satellites. But today, experienced industry and government experts describe the collaboration as much more comprehensive, with regard to emerging possibilities such as repairing and repurposing satellites in orbit, or relocating them with nuclear propulsion. Intelligence services are more than ever involved in harnessing civilian technology, including artificial intelligence, robotic capabilities and manufacturing expertise.

“Yes, we do science, research and discovery,” then NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told a government and industry meeting in September. He emphasized how well the Pentagon and NASA work together. “Which I hope will take people away from this discussion,” said Mr. Bridenstine, referring to NASA, that “we are an instrument of national power.”

George Stafford, Blue Canyon co-founder, sees NASA and the Pentagon use the same common small satellite cores for a range of applications. Military leaders need NASA’s knowledge to accomplish some of their goals. For example, they “should turn to NASA to get the expertise they need” to operate near the moon, Mr. Stafford in an interview. “It must be such a relationship,” he added, because “our opponents are expanding their reach” to try and control space around the moon.

Steve Cook, Deputy Group Chairman of Dynetics, sees orbital transfer of supercooled fuel, 3D imaging of the lunar surface and nuclear propulsion as core technologies spanning future military and NASA missions. White House and Space Forces policy guidelines, he said, are aimed at harnessing the country’s best engineering capabilities to establish human outposts on the moon and, ultimately, project US power deeper into space. Others see a priority in identifying benign foreign satellites against potential weapons.

Some experienced space experts remain skeptical about how quickly tangible changes will occur. There are a lot of “very interesting and nice theoretical arguments” about such cross-agency teamwork, said Doug Loverro, who has held senior management positions at NASA and the Pentagon. “But the world isn’t there yet.”

For Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Maxar, more mundane goals, such as mounting telescopes and repurposing vehicles in space, open huge opportunities for different parts of the US government. Howard McCurdy, a space historian who teaches at American University, sees the inevitable blurring of the once clear differences between civil and military initiatives taking place in France, Japan and other countries.

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

Some goals are more ambitious than immediately realistic. NASA and the Space Force eventually envision joint programs to protect Earth from potentially cataclysmic asteroid collisions. The Pentagon has hired a contractor to design a mini space station to investigate fabrication and training in orbit.

Write to Andy Pasztor at [email protected]