WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Defense is stepping up efforts to partner with new commercial space startups, viewing their dual-use technologies as crucial to maintaining military advantages, senior officials said Dec. 18.
The advance comes as China makes significant investments in its own commercial space sector, raising concerns about technological competition between the world’s two largest economies.
“The commercial space market is very nascent,” said Maj. Gen. Steven Butow, director of the Defense Innovation Units space portfolio, during a SpaceNews webinar. “So it takes a lot of investment.”
Butow stressed the importance of economic rather than military competition with China, which he said is investing heavily in its commercial space sector, both for economic benefits and military capabilities.
To streamline collaboration between private companies and government agencies, the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command has expanded its “Front Door” initiative, a portal connecting commercial companies with potential government buyers. The program now includes more than 20 government agencies, including NASA and the National Reconnaissance Office.
“We’ve even been asked by the international community to more or less franchise this so they can have their own gateway,” said Col. Richard Kniseley, head of Space Systems Command’s commercial space office. He added that despite criticism of the bureaucratic complexity of the Pentagon’s space acquisitions, the program now offers improved response times and direct human interaction.
One early-stage technology that is attracting particular interest is the concept of orbital warehouses. SpaceWERX, an innovation arm of the Air Force Research Laboratory, recently wins $71 million contract to the Californian startup Inversion Space to develop this capacity.
The technology could enable rapid delivery of supplies to strategic regions, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, said Arthur Grijalva, director of SpaceWERX.
SpaceWERX operates with an annual budget exceeding $400 million from the Small Business Innovation Research Program and other sources.
Grijalva said the Army plans to deploy up to 30 Inversion Space orbital warehouses capable of delivering cargo anywhere on Earth within 30 minutes via reusable re-entry capsules.