Когда национальная безопасность и собственность в опасности даже на Луне и ОЛП

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https://spacenews.com/the-new-frontier-of-national-security-and-exploration-is-in-the-heavens/

The new frontier of national security and exploration is in the heavens 
Tory Bruno May 15, 2019


U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gives remarks May 14 at the premiere of the film "Apollo 11: First Steps Edition" at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Fifty years after man's first steps on the moon, the future of human exploration in the final frontier is at a critical turning point. American leadership in space is more important than ever and, importantly, it remains one of the few issues that transcends the partisan divide. The Trump administration and lawmakers in both parties have shown a commitment to human exploration in space and the policies needed to maintain America's advantage.

The Trump administration has prioritized an acceleration of America's space exploration program, with the ambitious vision of returning astronauts to the moon's South Pole by 2024 and establishing a sustainable human presence by 2028 using NASA's new deep space exploration systems, the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew vehicle.

On Monday, the administration showed its commitment to these goals by requesting an extra $1.6 billion for NASA in next year's budget.

Since coming into office, the president has laid the groundwork for this visionary plan which can be seen through the revival of the National Space Council. Under the leadership of vice president Mike Pence, the National Space Council has centralized coordination of national space policy and new focus on defense and exploration priorities in space.

With a renewed emphasis on space, the Trump administration is reasserting American leadership in an area that is not necessarily front of mind as a strategic concern. Fortunately, the administration's efforts are bolstered by the fact that Congress has a history of acting in a bipartisan manner to protect and strengthen America's interests in space.

In the last Congress, the House and Senate unanimously approved the NASA Transition Authorization Act, which set forth new goals and initiatives for advancing deep space and scientific exploration, development of space technology, and expanding human presence to the surface of Mars and beyond.

Moreover, Congress has encouraged competitiveness and innovation in commercial space launches over the years, including through bipartisan legislation to foster public-private investments for launch vehicles and associated launch services. Requirements by Congress to transition away from foreign rocket propulsion systems has served to strengthen the supply chain across the United States.

United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur will ensure that we are developing more powerful and efficient launch systems to support both national security and help support NASA's return to the moon by transferring cargo and other supplies to prepare for astronaut missions on SLS and Orion.  Additionally, ULA has built the upper stage that will be used on the first two SLS missions and enable the first crewed return to lunar orbit since Apollo 17.  As the vice president noted during the most recent meeting of the National Space Council, held earlier this year at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Americans have been building "the greatest and most powerful rockets" here in the U.S., and ULA is humbled to be a part of this proud history of engineering excellence.

We look forward to working with the administration and lawmakers in both parties as we pursue the goal of launching America forward in the newest era of the space race. With the new Vulcan Centaur on the horizon, we will be taking an important step forward by ending our reliance on Russian engines. However, as China is already beginning to make clear with respect to its own goals and ambitions in the final frontier, it is more important than ever that we continue to act and embrace the urgency to innovate so that American values can help lead the way in shaping the future of mankind's presence in space.

At ULA, we are inspired by the call to "think bigger, fail smarter, and work harder than ever before." We are encouraged by America's renewed focus on space exploration. And we are proud to partner with the government and our private sector innovators as we harness America's best and brightest to make sure we are putting our best foot forward, on Earth and in space. And now, we will do it once again from American soil.

Tory Bruno is the president and chief executive officer of United Launch Alliance.

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https://spacenews.com/air-force-eyeing-technology-to-monitor-space-traffic-near-the-moon/

Air Force eyeing technology to monitor space traffic near the moon

A team of space startups received an Air Force contract to develop a concept to collect and manage lunar intelligence.

Sandra Erwin April 14, 2020


The far side of the moon and distant Earth, imaged by the 2014 Chang'e-5 T1 mission service module. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences

WASHINGTON — Under a U.S. Air Force small business innovation contract, a team of space startups is working on a concept to collect and analyze information about objects and activities in cislunar space near the moon.

"This is a Phase 1 study to investigate intelligence gathering as it pertains to the lunar domain," Nathan Parrott, director of Saber Astronautics USA, told SpaceNews.

The study is led by Rhea Space Activity, a startup based in Washington, D.C., which partnered with Saber Astronautics, a company headquartered in Australia with U.S.-based operations in Colorado. They will propose using a three-dimensional space situational awareness portal to track objects and analyze data. The companies announced on April 6 they won a $50,000 Air Force study contract to develop a concept for collecting and managing lunar intelligence.

Data about objects in cislunar space analyzed by Rhea Space Activity will be displayed and analyzed in a "space cockpit," a ground mission control tool being developed under a separate Air Force small business innovation contract awarded to Saber Astronautics in 2019.

"The space cockpit uses 3D graphics and gaming-like controls to give a more intuitive feel to the space domain," said Parrott.

A commercial version of the space cockpit is used by satellite operators to monitor, fly, and diagnose problems in spacecraft.

The Air Force would be able to use the same system to integrate lunar intelligence, said Parrott.

"The cislunar domain is becoming more important for space domain awareness, particularly as the number of manned missions to the moon starts to increase," he said. "Being able to ensure the safety of flight for these missions is of critical concern to NASA and others." The government needs tools so that when missions are analyzed, they can be quickly visualized and reviewed, Parrott said.

According to the Air Force small business innovation program's December 2019 solicitation: "As the space beyond geosynchronous orbit becomes more crowded and competitive, it is important for the Air Force to extend its space domain awareness responsibilities to include this new regime. To support this new body of work, the Air Force is seeking commercial innovation in support of space domain awareness for future cislunar operations."

The companies will complete the cislunar space intelligence study in about three months and then submit a proposal for a Phase 2 contract to start developing the technology.

"The goal of any Phase 1 study is to hopefully progress it towards a Phase 2," said Parrott. "That will depend upon the efficacy of the study and its potential to be commercialized among other factors."

Cameo Lance, a physicist at Rhea Space Activity, said that development of a new lunar intelligence discipline is inevitable as the U.S. military seeks to expand its capabilities beyond geosynchronous orbit to compete with China.

"China's Chang'e 4 mission successfully landed a probe on the far side of the moon, and China currently uses a communications satellite at the Earth-moon L2 point to relay communications to Earth," she said.

The U.S. military's interest in the lunar domain extends beyond the Air Force. The Pentagon's Space Development Agency has long-term plans to develop surveillance satellites to keep an eye on cislunar space.

Parrott said the military is trying to prepare for a future of increased space activity and these studies will help provide some answers.

"As it stands, we don't know what we don't know," he said. "So a large part of this project is to discover would be important from a strategic standpoint and make recommendations accordingly."

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https://spacenews.com/op-ed-a-u-s-return-to-the-moon-is-about-preserving-the-rule-of-law/

Op-ed | A U.S. return to the moon is about preserving the rule of law
Michael J. Listner April 17, 2020


This illustration is Lockheed Martin's concept of a two-stage crewed lunar lander that NASA could use to go to the surface of the moon. The ascent module is derived from the Orion spacecraft to ensure quicker development. Credit: Lockheed Martin[/img]

Two recent op-eds in SpaceNews expound on a U.S. return to the moon but both miss the mark of why a U.S. return is essential. In his Feb. 3 op-ed https://spacenews.com/op-ed-for-the-united-states-a-second-race-to-the-moon-is-a-second-rate-goal/, Louis Friedman opines the U.S. should set its sights on Mars instead of the moon and cites a peculiar rationale: the U.S. could lose a renewed race to the moon and hence suffer geopolitical embarrassment. Mr. Friedman's concern veils the underlying rationale that funding for science interests would be affected by a concerted effort to return humans to the moon and establish a presence, whether it be within the timeline prescribed by the White House or at a later date.

A Feb. 17 op-ed https://spacenews.com/op-ed-the-united-states-wont-go-back-to-the-moon-ill-follow-china-there-instead/ by Giulo Prisco takes the contrary view that a return to the moon would confer many advantages. He also recognizes the geopolitical implications for the U.S. if China were to establish a presence before the United States. Yet, Mr. Prisco goes further to note such an event would not be disagreeable so long as one state took the initiative to establish a permanent human presence (i.e., the end justify the means or, in this case, the who). Both op-eds posit opposite viewpoints and comment on the geopolitical aspect of the failure, or a potential failure, of a U.S. return to the moon. Yet, both miss the mark on the genuine reason for a U.S. return to the moon: to reinforce and preserve the rule of law (i.e., free access to outer space).     

Citing the rule of law as a rationale for a U.S. return and a continued presence on the moon may be seen as posturing for underlying geopolitical ambitions. That's unavoidable since geopolitics and international law are intertwined. The conjoining of geopolitical interests and international law brings into further play competing interests of what the rule of law will be. Geopolitics and international law in terrestrial domains shed light on how states might conduct themselves in other domains. Specifically, China's activities in the South China Sea and national claims being made there in contravention to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea demonstrates what a future could look like not only for the moon but the rule of law as well, including the Outer Space Treaty. This concern is most prevalent with the idea of space resources. The legal underpinning of space resources begins with a fundamental statement in Article II of the Outer Space Treaty that prohibits national appropriation of a celestial body, including the moon. This proscription also extends to private individuals under the authority of a state. This means traditional mining claims cannot be made by a state or a private citizen. The concept of space resource performs an end-run around this prohibition starting with the key assumption extractable resources upon or within a celestial body are not part of a celestial body. This idea takes advantage of the lack of language relating to mineral resources in Article II of the Outer Space Treaty and applies the concept of "use" found in Article I of the Outer Space Treaty.

The application of use in a space resource activity permits private individuals to collect and possess mineral resources, including water, through a novel application of use similar to gathering fish from the world's oceans. In other words, the concept of space resources permits a private entity to perform the activity of gathering mineral resources from a celestial body, including the moon, and convert them to personal possession without laying claim to the celestial body itself, which makes space resources an activity that creates a property interest. However, the entitlement created by the idea of space resources that permits private individuals to gather and possess resources does not extend to states as that would be considered national appropriation and prohibited under Article II of the Outer Space Treaty.

This is the theory the United States has submitted as international law but has not yet been borne out in practice, which leaves a weak legal footing that could be exploited. The U.S. must return to the moon and establish a presence that will enable follow-on activities by private companies to perform space resource activities and harden the principle into international law. Uncertainty about space resources creates a vulnerability that can be exploited by China to change the dynamic of international law through customary international law that could unzip the prohibition against sovereign nations laying claim to celestial bodies and outer space in general, which would deny  free access.

The key to exploiting this weakness lies in the relationship between the state and private companies in China. Private companies in China state-owned are seldom if at all privately owned as the state owns significant stakes and creates a private/state hybrid. This duality is effectively used when doing business in other countries as private Chinese companies frequently take advantage of state ownership to defend against lawsuits by applying sovereign immunity. China has been supportive of the idea of space resources and is rumored to be creating a domestic space law that would permit private individuals to obtain space resources. This means any activities to harvest space resources would be performed by a private Chinese company but would also have government ownership as a silent entity, which means a sovereign State would be appropriating space resources under the guise of a private entity, which is a violation of the principle in Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits sovereign nations from laying claim to celestial bodies and outer space as a whole.If the U.S. fails to return to the moon and establish a presence to permit private companies to perform and cement the concept of space resources into the body of international law, China could use the vacuum to establish a presence and permit its private companies with their dual identity to perform space resource activities. If space resource activities involving a state are tolerated or not countered, China could create a customary norm of space resources, i.e., states performing space resource activities are not prohibited, that would give constructive claim of sovereignty over celestial bodies. This use of customary law would in turn lead to denial of free access in outer space in the same manner China is using customary law in the South China Sea to establish a sovereign presence and deny free access in the world's oceans.

A U.S. return to the moon is not about replaying the Cold War space race, but rather about furthering a national interest to reaffirm the rule of law to preserve free access to outer space. Free access, which has been a principle of international law for over 50 years, is not only important for the United States, but other states as well. Justifying a return to the moon as an effort to preserve the rule of law and preserve free access to outer space will be criticized as flag waving and fear mongering at the expense of international cooperation. Yet, outer space like other domains is dominated by geopolitics despite platitudes of cooperation, which is subordinated to national interests and realpolitik. Indeed, outer space could become nationalized if the current rule of law is not reinforced.

The United States is at a critical juncture, with Congress at the crux of the domestic tempest about a U.S. return to the moon. The effect on the rule of law must be taken into consideration in the debate about whether and by what means the United States should return to the moon and establish a presence.

Subordinating the rule of law to partisanship and special interest will surrender not only the national interests of the United States in outer space but the very body of international rule of law, including free access. Indeed, failure is possible, but it is better to risk failure and strive for the goal to return to and establish a permanent presence on the moon than sit on the wayside and hope the territorial dispute in the South China Sea doesn't repeat itself on the moon or outer space in general. Congress is in the driver's seat both through the NASA authorization bill before it and appropriations. Additionally, Congress might consider entertaining further legislation addressing space resource rights in conjunction with the Trump administration's Executive Order, which articulates a specific position on the legal concept of space resources and preempts multilateral efforts to define the concept of space resources that would permit China to skirt the rule of law and make territorial gains contrary to the rule of law.

A decision to support a human return to the moon to establish a permanent presence and maintain U.S. leadership in international law the U.S. with the decision to take action apart from partisan motives and special interests and make the commitment and investment that will give the rule of law in outer space a fighting chance. The alternative is to play politics and lose the legal and geopolitical battle, which will ensure the only outcome will be a South China Sea on the moon and in outer space and contentious congressional hearings lamenting why the U.S. did not act when it had the chance.


Michael J. Listner is an attorney, the founder and principal of the legal and policy think tank/consultation firm Space Law and Policy Solutions and the author and editor of the subscription space law and policy briefing-letter, The Précis.

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https://spacenews.com/op-ed-lunapolitics-10-points-to-consider/

Op-ed | Lunapolitics: 10 points to consider
John B. Sheldon August 1, 2020


Renewed competition for the moon is the basis for the rise of Lunapolitics: where political and economic interests intersect with the topography and physical properties of the moon, from its subsurface through to cislunar space, writes John B. Sheldon. Credit: NASA/GSFC

The moon is again the object of competition between major space powers. These powers aim — perhaps even in this decade — to establish a permanent human presence on the moon's surface and in its orbit, and exploit lunar resources for economic benefit.

This renewed competition for the moon is the basis for the rise of Lunapolitics: where political and economic interests intersect with the topography and physical properties of the moon, from its subsurface through to cislunar space. The competitors are primarily the United States and China, but also Europe, Japan, India, and Russia, as well as companies hoping to mine the moon's resources. Lunapolitics is the equivalent of geopolitics, and it is a growing and important reality that will keep diplomats, executives, and strategists busy for decades to come.

With this increasing importance of Lunapolitics, I offer the following 10 points for consideration by those tasked with creating the political and economic framework for our future on the moon:

1. Political and Economic competition for the moon is generally a positive phenomenon: Competition is healthy, yet competition for the moon needs rules of the road and agreed-upon principles undergirded by widely accepted space law, especially the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The alternative risks a zero-sum, overtly militarized scramble for the moon that benefits no one over the long-term. Lunapolitics is essentially the management of this competition.

2. Currently, the United States is the prime mover of Lunapolitics: It is the only space power today capable of mustering the technological capability, financial resources, and diplomatic will to establish the foundation for a broadly acceptable Lunapolitical framework. The Artemis Accords could be the basis for this, but they do not entitle the United States to a leadership role; America could find itself isolated should it disregard the legitimate concerns and interests of other countries, including those of China and Russia.

3. Lunapolitical power is predicated on geopolitical power on Earth: The largest Lunapolitical powers of the future will be those who possess the favorable geopolitical conditions on Earth today that allow them to be space powers. These conditions include space launch facilities that provide routine access to cislunar space; a highly educated and motivated workforce; a vibrant and developed economy and business climate; and an advanced scientific, technological, and industrial base. It is most probable, therefore, that the United States and China will be the leading Lunapolitical powers.

4. Lunapolitics is economic as much as it political: Just as geopolitics on Earth has a significant geoeconomic component, Lunapolitics will have a considerable Lunaeconomic agenda that will require a deep understanding of the evolving political economy and business dynamics of, on, and around the moon. While Lunaeconomics will be an important component of Lunapolitics, narrow business interests on the moon should not dictate wider and longer-term strategic and political interests of lunar powers.

5. Legitimate Lunapolitics will allow freedom of passage to the moon for all: With sufficient farsightedness, a legitimate Lunapolitical architecture will ensure freedom of passage and navigation between the Earth and the moon for any country or company capable of doing so. Unilateral demands or conditions that certain actors not be permitted access to the moon is a shortcut to delegitimizing any agreed-upon architecture.

6. It will also promote sustainable activity and presence on the moon: Humanity's poor environmental legacy on Earth should not be replicated on the moon, or elsewhere in the Solar System and beyond. A Lunapolitical architecture should enshrine principles and practices that promote its political, economic, and environmental sustainability.

7. Lunapolitical alliances will constantly shift and evolve: As on Earth, Lunapolitical alliances are not permanent and will inevitably change with shifting political and economic interests. It is essential that a durable Lunapolitical architecture can withstand shifting alliances and changed interests.

8. Militaries support Lunapolitical order, not dominate it: A legitimate Lunapolitical architecture can ensure broad international support so long as it advances a predominantly civil and economic agenda. Any overt militarization of Lunapolitics — by any country except under the most exceptional of circumstances — will undermine legitimacy and provoke adverse international reaction. This does not mean that the military does not have a role in Lunapolitics; however, that role should be to ensure freedom of passage and navigation, search and rescue, and enforcing internationally accepted standards of conduct. No single national military will have a monopoly on these functions, and instead a military role in Lunapolitics should be multinational.

9. Lunapolitics is normal, Lunapolitik is not: Lunapolitics will be a normal byproduct of growing political and economic interests in the moon, and to reject the concept out of some misplaced notion that politics has no role in our future presence there is to invite an even worse alternative. To accept Lunapolitics is to also accept responsibility for the future well-being of our moon and our presence there. What is not normal, however, is Lunapolitik — a lunar approximation of Nazi German Geopolitik — where competition is unbounded, rapacious, zero-sum, and overtly militarized.

10. Lunapolitics is a long game, not just an election cycle issue: Finally, Lunapolitics will require a long view, strategic thinking, and a large dose of prudence and enlightened self-interest. While inevitably, Lunapolitics will be dragged into parochial national politicking to some extent, those charged with tending the Lunapolitical agenda should do their best to build bipartisan and multinational constituencies concerned with the common good and interest.

The future is inherently unknowable, and the Lunapolitical agenda outlined here will undoubtedly experience challenges and even setbacks.

But the future is also shapeable, and it is our collective choice whether Lunapolitics opens up new economic opportunities and scientific possibilities, or whether our future in space ends before it could even begin.

John B. Sheldon, Ph.D., is the founder of Lunapolitics.com, a forthcoming content and strategic consulting platform committed to promoting and securing a sustainable and stable Lunapolitical framework for the future. @johnbsheldon

This article originally appeared in the July 13, 2020 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

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https://spacenews.com/space-force-members-can-go-to-the-moon-if-theyre-picked-by-nasa/

Space Force members can go to the moon, if they're picked by NASA

Gen. DT Thompson: There are no plans today to send Space Force units into space.

Sandra Erwin October 1, 2020


NASA selected three commercial lunar landing service providers in May 2019 to deliver science and technology payloads to the moon. One of those three, Orbit Beyond, dropped out of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program two months later. Credit: NASA artist concept

WASHINGTON — Since the U.S. Space Force was established in December 2019, officials have had to dispel misconceptions that the service will have a human spaceflight program and deploy troops to the moon.

At least for the foreseeable future, any member of the Space Force who wants to go to space has to compete for a slot in NASA's astronaut corps. Will there be a time when the Space Force will deploy large numbers of boots on the moon? "No idea," Gen. David D. Thompson, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said Oct. 1. "Certainly not in my career."

But the Space Force has to prepare for the possibility of more human activity on the moon and colonization of the lunar region which could require a military presence, Thompson said during an online event hosted by DefenseOne.

There shouldn't be any near-term expectations that "we're preparing to send Space Force units into space in any way other than through the NASA astronaut program," Thompson said.

Thompson echoed remarks made on Tuesday by Maj. Gen. John Shaw, commander of space operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. At the AFWERX "EngageSpace" conference, Shaw said the Space Force one day might send personnel to stand up bases on the moon, although when that might happen is "anybody's guess" and "a long ways off."

Shaw's comments caused some irritation in Washington because they fuel speculation that the Space Force is not being forthright about its plans and goals.

This rhetoric "is not helping concerns about U.S. intentions in space," Victoria Samson, of the Secure World Foundation, tweeted Sept. 30

The head of the U.S. Space Force Gen. John Raymond has insisted that the service wants to help prevent, not start, wars.

U.S. Space Command spokesman Maj. Cody Chiles said Shaw was not suggesting that the Space Force is planning to stand up a human spaceflight program. He said Shaw sees the Space Force's role in support of NASA's peaceful human exploration of space.

The Space Force will be working with NASA as the space agency starts deploying assets to cislunar space. "Today, military space activities do not extend farther than our highest-orbiting satellites. However, commercial investments and new technologies have the potential to expand the reach of vital national space interests to cislunar and beyond," Chiles said. "It is the responsibility of U.S. Space Force to maintain U.S. advantages in space. If and when that extends beyond the GEO belt, we will go beyond as needed."

Lt. Gen. William Liquori, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, requirements and analysis, said the Space Force will be "part of the conversation" on how the nation's space assets are protected in future exploration efforts.

"Our mission is focused where the United States operates in space and so that tends to be in the area below the moon," Liquori said Oct. 1 on a video chat hosted by WorldBoston World Affairs Council.

"Obviously our partners in NASA have outer space probes that go well beyond that, and our responsibility as the United States Space Force is to protect U.S. and allied advantages and systems in space," said Liquori. "If at some point in the future we need to move beyond where we typically operate today then we'll certainly be a part of that conversation."

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https://spacenews.com/moon-patrols-could-be-a-future-reality-for-the-u-s-military/

Moon patrols could be a future reality for Space Force

"It's a brave new world for the DoD to embark on," said Capt. David Buehler, manager of the AFRL experiment named CHPS, for Cislunar Highway Patrol System.

Sandra Erwin November 2, 2020


The Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS) is a spaceflight experiment designed by AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate to demonstrate space domain awareness capabilities in the cislunar regime. Credit: AFRL

U.S. military space activities today are confined to Earth orbit. That could change in the coming years as NASA begins to establish a permanent presence at the moon and works with the private sector to develop a cislunar economy. The military foresees playing a role protecting those interests if they were challenged by a foreign power.

The Space Force echoes that thinking in a doctrine document published in August, which says the service must prepare for a future when the moon and the volume of space around it could become the next military frontier.

The Pentagon made known its interest in deep space in spring 2019, when then-director of the Space Development Agency Fred Kennedy revealed that tracking objects in the lunar sphere was on the agency's priority list.

A key development last month was the announcement by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate that it will embark on an experiment to investigate technologies to monitor cislunar space.

"It's a brave new world for the DoD to embark on," said Capt. David Buehler, manager of the AFRL experiment named CHPS, for Cislunar Highway Patrol System.

The U.S. Space Force is contemplating a time when its responsibilities could extend beyond geostationary Earth orbit, Buehler told SpaceNews.

"If we're going to protect and defend, the Space Force is going to need to understand the environment, have space domain awareness capabilities to be able to know where everything is out there," Buehler said.

"I think our experiment is extremely groundbreaking," he said. "This could be the first mission for DoD going beyond GEO."

Buehler said the details of the experiment are nowhere close to being decided. AFRL plans to solicit ideas from the private sector and assess different technologies and approaches, he said. The Space Vehicles Directorate plans to host a conference for interested contractors sometime in 2021 at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, but the timing will depend on the coronavirus situation, Buehler said.

Scientists widely agree that the surveillance of cislunar space presents daunting technical challenges, he said. One of them is estimating the trajectory of objects that are subject to both the Earth's and the moon's gravitational effects, said Buehler. "As you go further and further beyond GEO, you start to have these weird, non-closed trajectories, they no longer look like orbits, they're more open-ended trajectories."

And the distances are mind-boggling, he added. "We have 1,000 times more volume to surveil. The space after the moon and beyond is 1,000 times larger, so you're dealing with an enormous amount of volume."

The brightness of the moon also creates obstacles for sensors. "And that's one of the things we're hoping to overcome with CHPS," Buehler said. "If you can get out near the moon, you can start to beat down some of those brightness challenges."

As the project moves forward, AFRL will seek advice from the Space Development Agency, the Space and Missile Systems Center, and NASA. "We're looking to actively partner with NASA wherever we can," said Buehler. "Obviously, they have the expertise operating far beyond GEO that DoD just does not have."

A recent cooperative agreement signed by the U.S. Space Force and NASA lays the groundwork for future collaboration on cislunar space surveillance.

Maj. Gen. John Shaw, commander of space operations at U.S. Space Command, called cislunar space surveillance a "big-data problem."

"It's going to require many, many sensors and the fusion of data to present a picture, and predictive analytics to deliver an idea of what's going on in the lunar sphere," Shaw said on a webinar hosted by the California Polytechnic State University.

"When you do the math, it's a huge volume," said Shaw. "In the military we talk about the tyranny of distance across the oceans. This is about the tyranny of volume."

Just understanding what's happening in the environment will be hard, said Shaw, "And that's if people are not up to mischief. Once you have threats introduced into that environment, it is even more challenging."
Role of private sector

The CHPS experiment will provide a glimpse into how DoD plans to leverage technology from the private sector. "It's exciting to see that we might even open up the commercial market with what we're doing," said Buehler. "Until the government shows interest, businesses aren't going to invest."

U.S. commercial companies are developing deep space technologies previously exclusively reserved for governments, from communications to navigation to lunar landing systems, said Doug Hendrix, CEO of ExoAnalytic Solutions, a firm that operates a large network of optical telescopes to track objects in orbit.

Space domain awareness technologies are a "foundational component of the infrastructure needed to support a cislunar economy," Hendrix said.

"For us, the telescopes looking at geosynchronous orbit are the beginning of a larger vision," he said.

ExoAnalytic currently has contracts from AFRL and from the Space Development Agency to demonstrate capabilities to track objects in cislunar space, and to figure out the components of a space-based architecture to do cislunar surveillance.

One of the issues the company is examining is where to put satellites and what sensors would be needed to monitor space from the Earth out to the moon and even farther, said Hendrix.

"There are different orbit designs to come after those challenges," he said. "We're in the early phases of the study."

Most of the objects transiting today in cislunar space are research satellites and scientific probes. "So right now there are very few objects. But there's a lot of commercial as well as sovereign nations' interest in exploring the moon and creating maybe a permanent presence," said Hendrix. "The Chinese are definitely on the path to creating a permanent presence. The United States plans to do so."

With the ground-based sensors available today, it's possible to track medium-sized to larger satellites all the way out to lunar range, said Hendrix. "Cislunar is 10 times the range of GEO, objects are going to be 100 times dimmer. And it's 1,000 times the volume to surveil."

"We have been developing the technology for at least the last five years specifically to be able to see as dim an object as possible, which translates to being able to see farther," he said. "The same technologies we've developed to see very small objects in Earth orbit allow us to see farther out into the lunar orbit."

Major investments will be needed in communications and navigation systems for cislunar space, said Hendrix. "We would like to see the U.S. government pay serious attention to this."

He said DoD has an opportunity with cislunar efforts to embrace new ways of working with the private sector. "These efforts will require rapid innovation," Hendrix added.

The U.S. government is now working to transition the responsibilities of space traffic management from Defense to the Commerce Department, he noted. "I'm really looking to see how they are going to expand these plans to include cislunar as that traffic grows."

This article originally appeared in the Oct. 19, 2020 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

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