Space Force challenged to scale new cloud-based satellite ground control system

AURORA, Colo. — The number of military satellites in orbit is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years, and the Space Force is creating a plan to expand its new cloud-based ground control segment for orbital warfare sats.

In 2023, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office — a semi-autonomous acquisition organization dedicated to quickly delivering critical technologies to the Space Force —  initiated yet another attempt to modernize its ground systems used to manage and reposition satellites on orbit when it launched the Rapid Resilient Command and Control (R2C2) program.

While the effort has been successful thus far, the office now has just 18 months to figure out how the system can be augmented to support even more satellites, Space RCO Director Kelly Hammett said Wednesday during a media roundtable at the annual AFA Warfare Symposium.

“I have concerns about scalability to all the flying programs that are going to be coming, because Delta 9 and [Space Operations Command] has said nothing will come to Delta 9 that isn’t on R2C2 after 2026,” Hammett said.

R2C2 is a combined program between Space RCO and Space Systems Command that provides a cloud-based infrastructure offering tactical ground segment software used to control dynamic satellites — that is, those that can reposition on-orbit to respond to new threats in space. Software tools and infrastructure are provided from a pool of 20 commercial vendors that in 2024 received indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts worth up to $1 billion total over a period of five-to-seven years.

Past efforts to modernize ground control infrastructure for dynamic satellites that conduct orbital warfare have been burdened by ambitious goals, legacy architectures and narrow requirements. After cancelling two such programs — first the Enterprise Ground Systems (EGS) and then the Ground Command, Control and Communications (GC3) — Space RCO decided to pivot its contracting approach for R2C2.

The idea was to “go to non-traditional, small business software writers instead of traditional defense primes who have struggled, in many cases, to provide ground software previously,” Hammett said. “We put the infrastructure in place and we put the platform in the development pipeline, and got all that at multiple classification levels. And then within 15 months, we had working software.”

Historically, the Space Force has struggled to deliver supporting ground segments prior to satellites launching, which has caused strain on current systems. As a result, the service’s former acquisition lead Frank Calvelli called for breaking down traditionally monolithic ground system modernization programs into smaller, more manageable segments.

The iterative approach is being used for other ground segment modernization efforts, and Hammett said the strategy has been effective thus far. The office is already talking to satellites on orbit using five prototype versions of software and it plans to field an operational R2C2 1.0 capability in April, he added. 

“We’re trying to show [the Space Force] what ‘right’ looks like in terms of cloud-based and agile software development that delivers on a cadence,” he said. “It’s not ‘wait five years until you get working software’ — you get something in 14 months and then you get another version.” 

The office is hoping to build off of its early success with R2C2 as it looks at how the platform can support the growing number of satellites that will be launched over the next few years. The office has just 18 months to figure out how it can onboard new systems into R2C2, and Hammett has tasked his team to deliver a plan for scaling the platform before then.

“Does that mean bringing on an integrator, a contractor or an additional government team? We’re working through that,” he said.

But scaling the system isn’t the only challenge Space RCO is working on. Hammett noted that they also need to understand how to integrate multiple new capabilities into a coherent system of systems that can work together at the cadence needed for future operations.

“We’re building a bunch of stuff. We need to connect it appropriately. That’s why we took on R2C2, but that’s just one piece. We’re doing tactical C2 for orbital warfare. We’ve got [a separate system called Kronos] out of SSC doing operational C2 for that, and then we’ve got the other mission areas,” he said.