The Space Force disclosed plans Monday to build satellites capable of operating in the large area between Earth and the moon known as cislunar space.
The notice to industry stated that Space Force systems developers are looking to procure five space vehicles, each requiring a spacecraft bus and carrying an unspecified U.S. government payload along with a mission management system and telemetry, tracking, control and communications capabilities.
The program is being called the “Cislunar Space System” that could be deployed by 2029.
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“These vehicles may serve as seed vehicles that will inform the acquisition strategy for a potential future proliferated cislunar constellation,” the industry notice said.
The notice seeks a rapid, low-risk engineering solution from industry for the program.
The Defense Intelligence Agency in a report made public last month also warned that China could threaten cislunar space. “China portrays its interest in cislunar space as peaceful, but PRC officials have also discussed pursuing military capabilities in cislunar space,” the report stated.
A report by the Air Force Research Laboratory stated that U.S. military forces are preparing to defend satellites and other systems beyond Earth’s orbit in areas extending to the moon and beyond.
According to the 2021 report, defense of cislunar space — the volume of space outside of geosynchronous Earth orbit and within the moon’s gravitational pull — was outlined in a memorandum of understanding between the Space Force and NASA.
The report was made public as China and Russia announced plans to build a joint international research station on the moon that military officials say could be used for both military and commercial means.
Both nations’ space programs are linked to military operations and U.S. officials fear the moon base will give the U.S. adversaries the ability to control cislunar space.
In April, the Space Force warned in a report on the future space environment that China is expected to use its increasing space warfare power to conduct low-level warfare against the U.S. and to control space all the way to the moon.
To defend space, Space Force combat units will need sensors and communications hardened against attacks and space weapons.
“These combat units must deny and deceive sensing capabilities, collect and jam intersatellite links, and when necessary, responsibly destroy satellites without littering the domain with debris,” said the report, “Future Operating Environment 2040.”
“As operations expand beyond GEO, reversible to lethal capability must extend into cislunar space.”
The industry notice was first reported by Air and Space Forces Magazine.
Last month, Maj. Gen. Stephen G. Purdy Jr., a general in charge of the Space Force’s advanced programs, said in a speech that he was told in January not to discuss plans for cislunar systems and strategy.
Since that time, however, Pentagon leaders are discussing cislunar zones as a warfighting domain and seeking to develop systems that can operate there, he said.
Gen. Purdy said the shift is based on concerns about China’s military and strategic ambitions in deep space.
The future U.S. cislunar satellites could be used for intelligence gathering, position, navigation and timing and communications.
The satellites could be powered for maneuvering and orbital transfer as well as artificial intelligence and computer capabilities for long-term autonomous operations.
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