The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants small companies to help find new ways to use U.S. military power in space. DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) research and development agency, has released a statement explaining how it is asking private companies outside the typical base of traditional defense contractors to submit their ideas for “space superiority.”

The U.S. Air Force defines space superiority as “the degree of control by one force over another in space that allows the force to be conducted at a specified time and place without hindering interference from threats from land or space.”

In other words, DARPA is seeking ideas for new space-based weapons that could protect U.S. satellites from damage or failure of enemy systems, as well as systems that could launch their own attacks.

DARPA specifically wants companies to submit ideas for “new methods and technologies that could provide warfighters with disruptive options to defend and protect space systems.” According to a statement from DARPA, this call is part of the agency’s Bringing Secret Innovation to Defense and Government Systems (BRIDGES) initiative. confidential data.”

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Doctrine Note: Operations, published in 2022, describes how superiority in space can be achieved through both defensive and offensive operations. Defensive operations are operations that protect United States space-based capabilities from enemy anti-satellite or anti-space systems; Offensive operations, on the other hand, are operations that “include activities designed to deceive, disrupt, deny, disrupt, or destroy the enemy’s military.” space capabilities.” .

This could include a wide range of concepts, from ground-based direct lift missiles designed to destroy satellites to space-based lasers designed to blind the optics of enemy satellites. Other approaches include more exotic concepts such as radio frequency interception, cyber attacks on ground stations, ground-based lasers targeting overhead satellites, orbital missile weapons, and space-based chemical sprays.

This image was created for the Space-Based Weapons section of the U.S. Department of Defense Intelligence Agency’s declassified Space Challenge report depicting space-based anti-satellite systems targeting other space systems. (Image credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Senior Airman Samuel Eric)

As the world’s military superpowers increasingly compete for space, a new space race is brewing focused on depriving their rivals of the free use of space and the satellites that call it home. But as with spaceflight, the private sector is currently outpacing government agencies in developing the latest technology.

According to official DARPA documents, most current space advantage-related programs “do not incorporate the latest innovations of the burgeoning commercial “new space” industry, slowing the DoD’s ability to implement new technologies.”

The same sentiment was expressed by DARPA leadership in this petition. “The commercial space industry is experiencing tremendous innovation, but long acquisition times and relatively few companies passing approval may limit the adoption of these new innovations in defense and government space initiatives,” said Air Force Maj. Michael “Orbit.” Nayak, program manager. In a statement from DARPA’s Office of Strategic Technologies, DARPA said: “This means that potentially revolutionary concepts for national security space technologies have not yet been realized.

“We aim to change this scenario to ensure that innovators who can offer the best ideas about the many unanswered questions and the unique potential of space have a seat at the table,” Nayak continued. “We want to find solutions we didn’t even know we needed to establish and maintain space superiority.”

The US Space Force recently opened an office for the same purpose. The new office of the Commercial Space Marketplace for Innovation and Collaboration (COSMIC) aims to work with the private sector to achieve new technologies faster. Interested companies must submit their space superiority ideas to DARPA by October 1, 2023. The agency will continue to evaluate proposals until March 2024. Source