Maintaining space security will require agility, partnership

Gen. Shawn Bratton, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, and other space leaders outline what it will take to ensure the U.S. succeeds in space over the next 15 years.

As more countries and companies operate in space, the potential for both innovation and threats grows, prompting the need for a strong security presence in space. When President Donald Trump called for the creation of a new branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Space Force, in 2018, the government recognized that the once peaceful domain for exploration was becoming a more contested one crucial to national security.

Now, with space becoming more crowded with satellites, and as the U.S. and China compete to put humans back on the moon, space leaders say there are new risks and national security needs that the Space Force will need to prepare for.

At a recent installment of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center’s Discovery Series, SpaceNews spoke with industry and academic experts, along with Gen. Shawn Bratton, vice chief of space operations of the Space Force, about the major shifts and technologies that will influence space operations as well as the policies and capabilities required to ensure the U.S. succeeds in the domain for years to come.

The U.S. must move faster to continue leading in space

As space becomes increasingly competitive, the Space Force must consider new technologies and strategies to succeed, said Dennis Woodfork, mission area executive for national security space at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). To maintain its advantage in space, the U.S. must also improve its ability to operationalize capabilities faster and establish norms that both support a stable ecosystem and deter adversary actions, he said.

The biggest challenge to doing this lies in “miserable” classification barriers, said John Plumb, head of strategy for K2 Space, a satellite manufacturing startup. “It really limits the U.S. and allied ability to move faster on national security at a time when China just keeps rising in prominence,” he said. “Space remains overclassified.”

“[Classification barriers] really limit the U.S. and allied ability to move faster on national security at a time when China just keeps rising in prominence. Space remains overclassified.”

– John Plumb, head of strategy for K2 Space

Moving data quickly is also critical to responding to a rapidly changing operating environment that requires split-second decisions, added Susanne Hake, executive vice president and general manager of U.S. government for Vantor, a spatial intelligence platform. Increased congestion in space, along with growing reliance on space-based activities for critical infrastructure on Earth, adds a layer of complexity that didn’t exist a decade or two ago.

Key threats and capabilities in space to prepare for

More congestion in space isn’t just a logistics challenge, Hake added. “‘Congested’ really has the potential to turn competition into conflict,” she said. “As there are more satellites in space, that’s when miscalculations can happen, and they can be interpreted or misinterpreted as potentially hostile activity.”

Key to a strong space presence will be building dynamic space operations. This means going beyond launching to a specific position and maintaining it, and instead maneuvering in space with logistics—such as communications and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT)—in mind.

Cybersecurity. Cyber resilience will be critical to both detecting anomalies and maintaining control of a satellite during an attack, experts said.

“Making sure that we both have a real deep understanding of how to defend in depth and also on the offensive side from cyber is a very important part of warfare now,” Plumb said.

Deterrence. Strategic deterrence requires establishing norms of behavior, demonstrating advanced capabilities, and building multinational partnerships that deter adversaries, Woodfork said. He suggested that the U.S. move beyond data sharing with allies and create interoperable technologies that provide shared awareness of activities in orbit and on Earth. “We need to accelerate our ability to integrate with our allies so that we can show that united front to our adversaries,” Woodfork said.

Additionally, deterrence in space should mirror the same strategies deployed for the entire spectrum of war-fighting domains, Plumb said. “You have to have credible deterrence across terrestrial, air, undersea, and space and be able to operate credibly there,” Plumb said. “That’s a difficult thing. It really adds a whole other dimension.”

Military support. Gaining and maintaining space superiority will also require that the U.S. define the Space Force’s role in the joint force beyond logistics, Bratton said.

“What is the space contribution to the fight, not as a support mechanism providing ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] communications or navigation and timing, but how is the adversary using space to find Navy ships at sea and what can we do about that?” Bratton said. “That is the right-now work that I feel good about that we’ve made good progress on.”

Infrastructure. Achieving new goals and capabilities in space requires new infrastructure, whether for regular human transit to and from the moon or for training a growing number of Space Force Guardians, which Bratton expects to double in the next five to 10 years.

“On the infrastructure side, we have more work to do there on what is the infrastructure we need to be able to operate all those capabilities to support and sustain those Guardians,” Bratton said.

This comes coupled with additional security considerations, too.

“As people start to think about what it takes to sustain a human presence on the moon,” Woodfork said, “all of those conversations start to expand to, well, if you (create) that infrastructure, then you need [to consider] security [implications].”