The U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) is a U.S. Space Force direct-reporting unit focused on the rapid deployment of space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter. It aims to achieve this through the development, fielding, and operation of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a threat-driven constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit. SDA's key focus areas include military data and communications connectivity, missile tracking, and development of a resilient space architecture, working with partners like Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, and York Space Systems. Their work supports terrestrial missions and enhances warfighter lethality, maneuverability, and survivability.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Tranche 0 is the Space Development Agency’s initial deployment planned for 2022.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems signed an agreement with the Space Development Agency on 2020-06-05 to conduct a series of experiments for optical inter-satellite links using the company’s laser communication terminals.
The Space Development Agency requires the transport-layer satellites to pass data in space and down to the ground with very low latency and plans to use optical inter-satellite crosslinks with RF crosslinks as a backup.
The Space Development Agency will solicit proposals from contractors to build the first eight satellites of the missile-tracking constellation.
Proposals for the Space Development Agency’s 2020-06-05 tracking phenomenology experiment solicitation are due 2020-07-06.
The Space Development Agency will provide a sensor payload that the contractor must integrate with a satellite bus and place on a launch vehicle.
The Space Development Agency will issue a final request for proposals for the first eight satellites by 2020-06-15.
The Space Development Agency is soliciting bids to integrate a missile-warning sensor with a satellite bus and launch it to low Earth orbit by late 2021.
The 2020-06-05 solicitation from the Space Development Agency is for a tracking phenomenology experiment to develop sensor algorithms for a future missile detection network in space.
The tracking phenomenology experiment is an initial step in the Space Development Agency’s plan to deploy a large constellation of low-orbiting satellites in 2022 to detect and track maneuvering hypersonic missiles.
By 2022 or 2023 the Space Development Agency plans to field an early version of a missile-warning network with about 70 wide-field-of-view and medium-field-of-view satellites to provide regional persistence in LEO.
The Space Development Agency plans to have enough satellites by 2025 to achieve full global coverage for the missile-warning network.
The Space Development Agency was established a year ago to speed up the use of commercially developed space technology by the Department of Defense.
The Space Development Agency anticipates the first 30 spacecraft will be ready to launch by 2022.
The 2020-05-20 request for information provides a rough estimate of the types of satellites the Space Development Agency will need to launch and their target orbits so launch providers can decide if they can meet those requirements.
The Space Development Agency issued a request for information on 2020-05-20 asking launch providers what services they can offer.
The Space Development Agency was created under the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
The planned Space Force acquisitions command is expected to serve as an umbrella organization for the Space and Missile Systems Center, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, and the Space Development Agency.
Congress directed the Department of Defense to produce a plan to transfer the Space Development Agency to the Space Force by October 2022.
The Space Development Agency was created by the Department of Defense in March 2019.