NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.–In the next several months, the U.S. Space Force is looking to release a solicitation for RG-XX, an envisioned commercial replacement for the Space Force’s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) by Northrop Grumman [NOC].
GSSAP satellites maneuver to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations to monitor and inspect other satellites.
Five of six Space Force GSSAP satellites are still in operation. Four launched between 2014 and 2016, and two in January 2022. Last month, Space Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the acting space acquisition chief, said that 150 companies attended an RG-XX industry day (Defense Daily, Aug. 29).
“We’re thinking a couple of months–by the end of the year– we can get movement on this,” Purdy told reporters on Wednesday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber conference when asked about a timeline for a Space Force RfP on RG-XX.
“The timeline is wrapped up a little bit in funding so it’s a funding discussion, and so we could build a plan, which we’ve been trying to do, while also discussing the funding situation,” he said. “I can’t let contracts until I’ve got funding in place…Of note, we structured that [RG-XX] specifically to be unclassified and FMS [foreign military sales] acceptable. I’ve got a couple of international countries that are registering interest in it.”
The GSSAP satellites have used military Satellite Control Network (SCN) ground stations under Space Delta 6 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colo., and RG-XX is to use those SCN ground stations to minimize the amount of extra training required for ground personnel to operate RG-XX.
RG-XX satellites are also to have on-orbit refueling. “I mandated that,” Purdy said on Wednesday. “U.S. Space Command has been very open about that desire for on-orbit servicing mobility. Given our funding situation, it’s been difficult to stand up an on-orbit servicing mobility program so we’re looking at this one [RG-XX] to get our foot in the door.”
Such refueling is to tamp down the number of RG-XX satellites required for initial operations.
Space Force is to task more than one company to build RG-XX satellites, and the constellation may be significantly larger than GSSAP.
“I think so,” Purdy said on Wednesday when asked whether the number of RG-XX satellites will be more than GSSAP. “We normally define a specific number, but we’re kind of in the beginning game here so, from a cost perspective, it’s tough to nail down until we start getting actual proposals…My intent bluntly is just to buy as many as possible. I think this is clearly a mission need where we need a lot as rapidly as possible.”
“It’s going to be highly competitive on what the actual prices are, and they range pretty dramatically from what our cost models are to what I’m told by the companies we could actually get,” he said. “If I’m getting the potential street-whispered price, I’m gonna get a lot more than what we think our initial cost models were. This one busts our cost models because all we have is GSSAP, and so suddenly we’re doing mass production of satellites. That follows a different model. We’re not there in GEO and this mission area.”
