Space Force Is Testing AI to Automate Ops—and Eyeing More 

ORLANDO, Fla.—The Space Force is flying new command and control software on experimental satellites that automates some functions for ops crews, the head of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office said this week. 

Dubbed R2C2 for Rapid and Resilient Command and Control, the software is among a wave of new applications that employ artificial intelligence to automate space operations, leaders said here at the Spacepower Conference. 

Automation is the No. 1 technology the U.S. needs to gain and maintain space superiority, said Kelly D. Hammett, head of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office  

“My answer is going to be automation, and automation of the front end of kill chains,” she said in response to a question. “Having early knowledge of local and further-away threats that are tracking, targeting, getting ready to attack you, I think, is one of the key technology areas where we have some significant gaps.”

Hammet said automation is key for speed, and it will require a level of trust that may surprise some people. “We can’t have men in the loop responding to those things, because of the speed and scale at which we’ll have to respond,” he explained. “So we have to be able to automate some of those things and trust that they can respond on their own when they see that they’re going to be destroyed, attacked, threatened, and not have to have Guardians in the loop on that.” 

In a subsequent roundtable with reporters, Hammett said his office is investing in R2C2, a program that started in earnest when 20 companies were picked earlier this year to work on it. He said it is already producing capability. 

“This fall, we have already established live contacts with flying satellites down at Kirtland through the experimental systems that are flying through the [Innovation and Prototyping Acquisition Delta],” Hammett said. “We have migrated R2C2 onto the ops floor there, and the intent is to fly some of the further experimental satellites … and eventually all the flying systems for Delta 9, the orbital warfare delta.” “

R2C2 is designed for dynamic space operations, in which satellites must move frequently to dodge threats, gather data, rendezvous to refuel, and more. 

Yet as the number of satellites in orbit grows, the risk of of collisions also rises—as do potential threats from adversaries. Hammett noted that SpaceX has had to perform thousands of automated maneuvers to protect its Starlink satellites. 

R2C2 can help with that, especially as the ratio of satellites to operators keeps rising, challenging Guardians to maintain control. 

“The core services of our R2C2 include automated mission planning. You can schedule out a contact or a conjunction maneuver, if you would like to,” Hammett said. “You can plan all that out in an automated sequence. You can run a variety of cases and situations, decide the one you want, and then press the button and it’ll upload a mission profile that says, ‘Go, conduct a series of maneuvers to go conduct a mission’ versus ‘I’m going to talk to you. Turn this on. Turn left, turn right. Go five inches, report back to me.’ We’ll automate maneuvers and events.” 

The National Reconnaissance Office is also looking at automation. In a separate panel discussion, T.J. Lincoln of the NRO’s Mission Operations Directorate said he has been pushing automation for years.  

“Anything I can [automate] in a day of the life of operations, it absolutely is essential,” Lincoln said. “We’ve done that and already gone from, let’s say, 17 folks on a crew to three operating an entire constellation,” Lincoln said. “That’s pretty amazing. So automation is absolutely incredibly important today.” 

It will only grow more so as the NRO launches dozens of new satellites in a proliferated low-Earth orbit constellation, Lincoln said.

The Space Development Agency is also building a proliferated set of constellations. SDA director Derek M. Tournear said in a speech that autonomous operations will be a key feature in “Tranche 4” of SDA’s Proliferated Space Architecture, scheduled to start launching in 2030. 

Other Uses

While Hammett and Tournear look to develop and acquire autonomous ops technology, Space Force commanders today also see the need for artificial intelligence and automation in their work—and some early glimpses of the benefits. 

“The simple truth is that in order to operate at the speed we need to, we’re going to need to leverage all of the … machine learning capability that we can, and then smartly integrate AI tools and applications when they are ready,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Miller Jr., head of Space Operations Command. 

Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Mastalir, head of Space Forces Indo-Pacific, said his team is also experimenting with artificial intelligence products and “indirectly” using them in operations. 

“We are running a pilot that’s called TacSRT—tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking—and some of the vendors that are contributing to that pilot are working on AI/machine learning applications to better understand what that commercial imagery is showing,” Mastalir said. 

Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said one job where AI and automation is critically needed is space domain awareness 

“We get enough data—but we [still] get so much data that our analysts are overwhelmed anyway,” Saltzman said. “The ability for a machine to collect all the data, process the data, and tell the analyst what’s most … high priority, and structure that data in a way that they can make the decision they need— think that’s ripe for software engineering and artificial intelligence.” 

The volume of data that needs to be processed and sorted automatically continues to grow—and as it does, operators run the risk of missing something and making a critical mistake, Miller warned. 

“The only way to get this done is through automation and fusion,” Miller said. Failing that, “there’s so much data presented that the person who is processing picks their favorite rather than leveraging the suite.” But the Space Force doesn’t want individuals to pick and choose. “We want to leverage all of that and access and open up the enterprise to all of that data,” Miller said, then notify operators automatically when changes in orbit or other concerns arise.