Next chapter in space defense: Satellites that never stop moving

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — U.S. companies in the emerging in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) sector are working to better understand military needs as the U.S. Space Force prepares to rely on commercial firms for satellite refueling and other orbital services, industry officials said this week.

The push comes as military space operations evolve beyond traditional fixed-orbit satellites toward more agile spacecraft capable of sustained maneuvering to counter threats in space.

“When we start to talk about dynamic space operations, the ears of our U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Force members perk up,” said Monty Greer, outreach coordinator for the COSMIC consortium at the Aerospace Corp., speaking Sept. 23 during a panel discussion at the Air Space & Cyber conference.

COSMIC, or Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities, is a national coalition working to facilitate the operational, technical and policy integration of ISAM capabilities now being developed by commercial space firms. The consortium includes representatives from government, academia and private industry.

Military terminology

Topics like “dynamic space operations” and “sustained space maneuver” are now part of regular conversations within the consortium, Greer said. These military phrases refer to the ability for satellites to conduct continuous or frequent maneuvering rather than remaining in fixed or highly predictable orbits, and to maneuver rapidly, unpredictably and frequently to counter adversary threats and enable responsive actions such as evasion and deception in orbit.

In consortium meetings, military officials stress that these capabilities go beyond simply extending satellite operational life by adding fuel, but would also enable satellites to survive threats and create challenges for adversaries, Greer explained.

Understanding military needs for in-space maneuvering and dynamic operations is important for startups and large companies that need the Space Force and U.S. Space Command as customers, he said. “The first folks who are going to want to do that, we think, are those flying U.S. government satellites.”

The commercial foundation for such services is taking shape. Companies like Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics have performed in-space satellite servicing for commercial customers, and the company is preparing to deploy a new servicing vehicle in 2026.

“There’s an opportunity for the government to build on that capability, which right now we’re using for the commercial market,” said Rob Hauge, president of SpaceLogistics, at the conference.

Space Force Maj. Gen. Dennis Bythewood, special assistant to the chief of space operations, explained the military is seeking to enable the “movement and maneuver of spacecraft in order to gain some level of ability against an adversary.”

Beyond life extension

In the ISAM sector, sustained space maneuver is seen as a more advanced capability than life extension, as the military is now envisioning deploying satellites that can “take action … maybe move to the next place and take more action. That’s sustained by refueling and refitting,” Greer said.

Unlike traditional satellites limited to occasional stationkeeping or repositioning, satellites with sustained maneuver capability can change their position and orbital path unpredictably, making them harder to target or track by adversaries.

The sensor and interceptor satellites envisioned for the Golden Dome missile defense system may require these capabilities because they could be targeted by adversaries, Greer suggested. “We’ll see how that plays out. But I think sustained space maneuver is much more than life extension” because it takes place in a military warfighting context, he added.

Space Force studying requirements

Bythewood said the Space Force continues to analyze its needs and is working to define them more clearly. “In some cases, the answer is, I’m going to extend a mission that’s largely static or needs a new payload or an upgrade. Other missions are inherently driven by maneuver,” he said.

The next question is “what is the architecture that we need to put in place that will enable” sustained space maneuver, he added.

The Space Systems Command has established an office focused on space logistics, including in-orbit refueling. Separately, Bythewood said, “we’ve kicked off some concept work that will flow over the course of next year, that looks at what are the military advantages of movement and maneuver.”

“Specifically, what types of movement and maneuver within our domain drive the most military advantage, and what are the architectural choices that we’d have to put in place in order for them to be viable,” he said.

“We’re kicking off that work to really get past the ‘hey, this is a good thing,’ to specifically, what are we looking at for advantage? How would we architect this in order to deliver that advantage, and what are the implications of that on future force structure?” Bythewood said.

Infrastructure requirements

Hauge said achieving sustained maneuver in geostationary orbit will likely depend on technologies such as in-orbit refueling and more efficient propulsion systems, because traditional satellites are limited by their onboard fuel, which constrains both lifetime and maneuver options.

To provide sustained maneuver for satellites, especially in geostationary orbit, a dedicated logistics infrastructure is required to support refueling and repair. With civilian and commercial applications of ISAM still at the nascent stage, the industry is looking to the military to become an anchor customer.

The Space Force is funding the development of refueling vehicles and in-orbit refueling experiments. It is also supporting the development of commercial robotic servicing “space tug” spacecraft that enable in-space repair, the swapping of components, and may also help reposition satellites, manage failed or damaged units and provide spare parts in-space.

Officials and industry executives point out that sustained satellite maneuver requires a multi-layered logistics infrastructure that includes on-orbit refueling spacecraft, servicing vehicles, standardized hardware interfaces, and the industry is looking to the Space Force to help get these capabilities off the ground.

Test case: RG-XX constellation

A key test case for “dynamic space operations” will be whether the Space Force will have a refueling infrastructure available to support a future constellation of surveillance satellites the service already decided will need to be refueled in space.

A future constellation of satellites will be acquired in the coming years to replace the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) constellation. The GSSAP satellites face significant operational constraints because they cannot maneuver due to fuel restrictions, as their limited onboard fuel severely constrains their operational flexibility and responsiveness.

GSSAP satellites are tasked with “neighborhood watch” surveillance in geosynchronous orbit, tracking objects and threats, but because they cannot maneuver freely or frequently without using up their finite fuel, their ability to respond swiftly to suspicious or threatening objects in orbit is limited, officials have said.

The new program, called RG-XX, “absolutely has a refueling requirement,” Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the Space Force’s top acquisition official, told reporters Sept. 24 at the Air Space & Cyber conference. “I mandated that, and was very militant about that, to be blunt,” he said. “U.S. Space Command has been very open about that desire for on-orbit servicing and mobility.”

Commercial service model

Purdy, who serves as the acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, said the plan is to select multiple satellite suppliers to build and launch RG-XX spacecraft. The program is still in the early planning stage but Purdy was clear that whoever builds these satellites will have to make sure they can get refueled so the military is able to maneuver these satellites as much as needed without worrying about running out of fuel.

“I might ask them to bring their own refueler,” he said. “I absolutely want a refueling capability.”

These RG-XX satellites illustrate the concept of sustained maneuver. They need to stay in orbit for several years and replacing them with new ones as soon as they run out of fuel is not an option, Purdy said. It would take several years to secure funding and acquire new satellites, “and it would have been a lot faster if I just had a refueler up there to refuel it,” he said. “The refueler could absolutely be contractor owned, contractor operated, and I’ll buy refueling as a service.”

Purdy noted that the use of commercial services for space maneuver and logistics is part of the Space Force’s long-term commercial strategy and the RG-XX program would help accelerate this. “So that’s a subject of active debate that we’re working on right now.”