Space Force selects vendors to build cloud-based ground station marketplaces

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has awarded contracts worth a combined $17.6 million to two Colorado-based defense firms to build prototype cloud-based marketplaces that would connect military satellite operations with commercial and government-owned antennas.

Auria Space and Sphinx Defense, both based in Colorado Springs, will develop competing versions of what the Space Force calls a “joint antenna marketplace,” the military branch’s Space Systems Command announced May 12. Auria’s contract is valued at $8.1 million, while Sphinx will receive $9.5 million.

The marketplaces will aim to address a growing bottleneck in military satellite operations: too many satellites and too few ground stations capable of communicating with them. The goal is to add capacity to the aging Satellite Control Network (SCN), a collection of parabolic antennas around the globe, some of which are decades old and can only communicate with one satellite at a time.

“Our current ground infrastructure that’s heavily relied on by operators cannot handle the sheer number of missions we anticipate,” said Lt. Devrin Chullanandana, an official with Space Systems Command, in comments made last October. “USSF operators are very concerned about the SCN being able to handle the sheer number of satellites” projected to be launched. 

The joint antenna marketplace would function as a digital clearinghouse where satellite operations centers could dynamically schedule communication sessions — known as “contacts” — with antennas, based on availability, bandwidth and mission needs. It would integrate commercial and government-owned ground infrastructure into a single, cloud-based scheduling system, aiming to boost flexibility and reduce contact delays.

Commercial satellite operators for years have urged the military to take advantage of underused commercial ground infrastructure. Many commercial antenna providers report unused capacity, which could help ease pressure on government-owned assets without major capital investments.

Separately, the Space Force is buying new phased array satellite antennas under the $1.4 billion Satellite Communication Augmentation Resource (SCAR) program.