A U.S. Air Force technology program is scheduled to get new sensing technology in orbit within just two years instead of the typical seven. Separately, Australian Defense Force (ADF) officials estimate that taxpayers will save more than $100 million on its UHF payload program. Both are examples of military payloads that will be hosted on commercial communications satellites, which are made possible through creative partnerships between industry and government.

Hosted payloads are secondary payloads that can be added to a commercial satellite mission, allowing the host satellite operator to offset its launch and common satellite platform costs, benefitting both military and commercial satellite operators. Potential hosted payloads include experimental, communications, weather, sensing, technology demonstration and validation, and other missions that advance national defense objectives. The arrangement provides faster and lower-cost access to orbit for government payloads, and against a backdrop of funding cuts to major military space systems, options for hosting payloads on commercial satellites are gaining interest among military planners.

Testifying in June before the U.S. Senate, Gary Payton, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs, explained how one hosted payload program known as the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload Flight Demonstration Program (CHIRP) is expected to benefit the Air Force. "By partnering with the commercial space industry, we will have the opportunity to conduct early on orbit scientific experiment of [wide field-of-view] infrared data phenomenology using a Commercially Hosted IR (Infrared) Payload in 2010." The technology "offers considerable potential for reducing cost, schedule and performance risks for the next generation of missile warning satellites." Putting the sensor on a commercial satellite already scheduled for launch eliminates the need to launch a dedicated satellite to test the sensor.

Growing Interest

"Hosted payloads offer military operators access to space at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time required for traditional space missions," says Don Brown, vice president of hosted payloads, for Intelsat General, the government-contractor subsidiary of global satellite operator, Intelsat. Robert Demers, senior vice president of Americom Government Services, agrees. "Military and civilian agencies want to put payloads into space and have a decreasing number of opportunities to do that, while commercial spacecraft represent opportunities to put payloads into orbit with every launch. Both sides of that equation realize it’s potentially beneficial to each," he says.

Executives from satellite manufacturers are also seeing growing interest in commercially hosted payloads from military planners. "We have seen interest from the Department of Defense, Intelligence community and NASA, and other civil space agencies as well as foreign governments" says Jim Simpson, vice president of business development, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems.

The perception that there are new commercial opportunities is helping to drive new commercial alignments. For example, in announcing a deal between Northrop Grumman Corp. and Loral Space & Communications to work together in seeking government satellite contracts, Alexis Livanos, corporate vice president and CTO of Northrop Space Technology says, "Hosted payloads hold the promise of providing us greater ability and flexibility to rapidly respond to our government customers’ evolving needs." For Space Systems/Loral the deal better positions the company to serve government markets. "In many cases we use the same government payload providers that are used for government satellites, so the quality and capabilities would be very similar to those delivered through civil and defense procurements," says Arnold Friedman, the company’s senior vice president of marketing and sales.

Why the Uptick in Hosted Payloads?

Fiscal and program challenges to national systems help make hosted payloads a more viable option, especially when there is no other affordable and timely alternative. The cancellation of TSAT (Transformational Satellite Program) in the first half of 2009 has helped focus defense space planners on the need for alternative solutions to satellite communications requirements, such as the opportunity to put various packages on commercial spacecraft. Before the cancellation of TSAT there already was significant concern regarding available bandwidth for communications. With the cancellation, the issue has been heightened. "In the last year, we have seen a noticeable change in the government’s willingness to look to the commercial satellite providers to meet unfulfilled requirements other than standard commercial communications services," says Simpson.

Cost overruns elsewhere on the joint civilian-defense weather and meteorological satellite program NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System) resulted in planned payload features being removed from the satellites. Looking to satisfy its needs elsewhere, earlier this year the Air Force Weather Agency issued a request for information to industry on ways to support a Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring Data mission. Satellite manufacturers say a commercially hosted payload solution could work.

"In the last year, we have seen a noticeable change in the government’s willingness to look to the commercial satellite providers to meet unfulfilled requirements other than standard commercial communications services." — Simpson, Boeing

Catching a Ride on Commercial Platforms

Announcements of commercially hosted payloads range from placing advanced sensors on board to new technology demonstrations, to supplemental communications packages for mobile air and sea applications by the military. For example, under a $65 million Air Force CHIRP program contract, Americom Government Services will host an experimental sensor on its commercial satellite scheduled for launch in 2010. The sensor is being developed by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) as a subcontractor to Orbital Sciences. Another SES company, SES Astra in Europe, announced in June a contract from the European Commission (EC) to supply a system to augment and enhance aircraft navigational positioning accuracy, including those of the military. For the program, dubbed EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), an L-band payload will be added to Astra’s Sirius 5 TV broadcasting satellite.

Another commercially hosted payload program underway at the Pentagon is intended to demonstrate the viability of conducting military communications through an IP router in space. Intelsat General and Cisco Systems were selected for a JCTD (Joint Capability Technology Demonstration) in January 2007 for the Internet Routing In Space (IRIS) project. The IRIS payload has been added to the IS-14 satellite being built by Space Systems/Loral and scheduled for launch in late 2009. Cisco is supplying commercial IP networking software for the project. Seakr Engineering is responsible for manufacture of the space-hardened router and integrating it into the payload. According to Brown, "IRIS is an example of the U.S. military using a payload on a commercial spacecraft to test and demonstrate fundamental new technologies that have application to the U.S. military’s operations. The program was started in 2007 and we’re flying it in fall 2009. That is light speed compared to traditional government programs."

Yet another commercially hosted military payload is on order by the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Under A 15-year deal announced in April, Intelsat’s IS-22 spacecraft will host an ADF-dedicated UHF payload. The military will own the payload and independently control its operation on orbit. In so doing, the ADF escapes the need to procure and launch its own satellite just to provide the single narrowband UHF payload it requires. It gains big savings for Australian taxpayers.

Challenges and Success Factors

What are the challenges and success factors for commercially hosted payloads? Beyond the individual technical challenges, there are procurement, regulatory, and security policy issues that need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) complexities, export and munitions controls need to be addressed. "The current procurement policies make it an exception to do something along the hosted payload lines. The contracting is different. It is somewhere between government contracting and commercial contracting," says Freidman. "There are certain elements of our spacecraft design and build process that for the [Department of Defense] to take full advantage of they need to reorient their thinking from the way they have traditionally acquired satellites, and look to how the processes we have can be accommodated within their FAR process," says Demers.

Unlike the purchase of a space system, hosted payload programs require the buying agency to manage a more complex effort involving three business relationships, including the payload supplier, spacecraft manufacturer and spacecraft operator. To fly packages on commercial satellites, military space planners have to synchronize their requirements with the engineering design requirement of the commercial operator. "If a government agency wants a particular orbital slot, they’ve got to coordinate with our primary mission, engineering and scheduling, and that’s not traditionally the way they’ve worked," says Demers.

For example, trying to impose military standards could negatively impact the competitiveness of commercial satellite systems. "For more hosted payload programs to occur, more acceptances of commercial standards will be required," says Simpson. Protected communications is a similar issue. "The technology exists to provide assured information and protected communications on commercial spacecraft. The issue is not technology but initial investment. Either the government would have to pay in advance, or the contractor/service provider would have to go at significant risk, since there are no current long-term lease arrangements that would justify the service providers to invest up front," he says.

Dealing with Industry

What do government agencies interested in hosted payloads need to know about commercial industry practices? "We do everything as firm, fixed price, so that’s why there are cost-savings the military can know up front. They can figure their budgets in a more cohesive way. The builder takes risk providing us a firm, fixed price bid to sell us the satellite, but ultimately the most risk and greatest investment lies with the satellite operator," says Demers.

"A hosted payload provides planners with rapid space access because commercial satellites are launched in 24-to-36-month cycles," says Brown. "That also means that government space planners need to work closely with the commercial satellite operators to ensure that they take advantage of that rapid space access."

The agency also has to communicate what it needs, when and where, and communicate to the satellite operator and manufacturer early on in the process, even if funding has not yet been secured. "In the preceding 18 months before satellite construction, each operator does a market survey, in a sense, of present customers for a replacement satellite. If it is a new orbit location it has to build a business case for that location," says Demers. This is a critical time window for communicating and firming up the government’s requirements.

Brown is still cautious. "While the advantage of commercial satellites is the speed and frequency of their launch, it also means that government space planners may not have the luxury of allowing a space mission to be delayed by years for budgetary or technical reasons." With other revenues riding on the satellite and tied to delivery schedules, a commercial operator may be unwilling to accept delays in its mission caused by delays in the government payload program without adequate compensation, or may not be able to afford any delay."

"If the government customer comes along to weigh in on every test, decision and action, we then end up with the same schedule dilemmas found on government-type programs," says Demers. "In their own space programs they are the only customer. In commercial hosted payloads they are one of many customers." Commercial satellite customers want to be confident that the government payload will be done on time.

Future Opportunities

Hosted payloads are not a panacea nor a substitute for dedicated satellites and national space systems, but "our goal is to help put extra science in the sky or communications for the warfighter. By putting these kinds of payloads on commercial satellites, the government has the chance to get important projects on orbit within a couple of years, instead of maybe waiting a decade for a new satellite opportunity to arrive," says Freidman. In the current fiscal climate, it may be more advantageous than ever for military space planners to explore their options for hosted payloads.

Dan Freyer owns AdWavez Marketing, a marketing firm serving the satellite industry. He may be reached at [email protected].