Hosted payloads increasingly should be seen as an attractive option for governments looking to provide advanced communications and observation capabilities in a more cost-effective manner. This was one of the key takeaways from the “Hosted Payloads – A New Model for Commercial/Military Cooperation” panel at SATELLITE 2010.
    Joseph Rouge, director of the U.S. National Security Space Office, discussed this change in thinking. “There is a radical shift in government thinking (towards working with the commercial industry on hosted payloads). The commercial industry has shown to us that they are capable of building capable systems. That was something that we were not ready for. There has been a real shift in this. We have already missed a number of opportunities in terms of hosted payloads.”
     Rouge believes there could be a significant shift of U.S. space policy over the course of the next few months, which could accelerate things still further. “With a new Space Policy (coming from the U.S. government) this summer, I think we will take a different approach in terms of how we buy capability. I think a lot of change will occur this year. We want to get ourselves ready for this change. The government is ready for this change. You can augment the acquisition of government space assets with rapid, cost-effective space capabilities,” he said.
    Rouge believes this type of move would help the government bring new engineering talent to work on major space programs. “It is taking longer and longer for government to launch programs, where the commercial sector is taking less time. We have made this industry unexciting. That is what you bring to us and what we can’t do all on our own. We need to learn from your experience,” he said.
    Others on the panel shared this view. Intelsat is is looking to generate more revenues through hosted payload deals. The operator brokered a breakthrough deal with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 2009 for a hosted payload. Don Brown, Intelsat’s vice president of hosted payloads said, “We are inventing an industry here. We say to governments that hosted payloads are a key tool for you to use to access space on a time-effective basis. I don’t think there is any debate that there will be a role for commercial satcom in the military arena going forward. Commercial is now part of the architecture. It is a key tool for getting missions up there. Hosted payloads offer economical access to space”
    Brown also emphasized that striking a hosted payload deal does not necessarily mean a compromise on capability. “UHF payloads deliver significant capability. It does not deliver small capabilities. They are all big capabilities,” he said.
    Jim Simpson, vice president, business development, Boeing Satellite Systems International, echoed some of Brown’s statements and also highlighted the significance of the ADF deal. “The ADF UHF mission is an excellent pathfinder for future hosted payload missions. The Australians turned this around very quickly. This deal could be used as an impetus (for others). Hosted payloads are complementary to dedicated milsatcom assets. Commercial space is viable option for meeting emerging government needs,” he said.
    It is not just for the military that could see utility from hosted payloads. Charles Baker, deputy administrator, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the organization may have to look at creative solutions such as hosted payloads to continue to provide uninterrupted coverage of weather, climate and oceans. “We are trying to roll back any impediments for the use of hosted payloads. NOAA owns the national weather service. We also monitor climate change as well as oceans. We have used government owned satellites for the last few decades. All of that is not enough. Our problem is how to continue to interrupted coverage. We are looking at commercial opportunities to replace those sources of information.”
     While most on the panel were upbeat about the prospects for hosted payloads, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Craig Weston, president and CEO, U.S. Space, was less effusive. “Hosted payloads have limited utility to government. Today’s hosted payloads model is based on geosynchronous satellites. You have questions such as, ‘Is the government payload going to turn up at the same time as the commercial payload?’ These hosted payloads have an ad hoc role. I don’t think this is good for government. Fundamentally, the host platform should be a satellite dedicated to a government mission.”