[Satellite News 10-05-11] Hundreds of satellite executives, manufacturers, scientists and end-users from a wide variety of industry sectors packed into the Oct. 4 Hosted Payload Summit to address issues and voice perspectives surrounding the increasing use of hosted payloads on commercial satellites.

   The one-day event, held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C., kicked off with opening remarks and a keynote address from U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Ambassador Gregory Schulte, who asserted the U.S. Department of Defense’s intentions to cooperate with commercial satellite companies in leveraging hosted payload capabilities.

   “We are looking to commercial hosted payload developers, providers and operators to help us think of innovative solutions to meet government and military needs,” said Schulte during his address. “The U.S. National Space Security Strategy that we put forth on behalf of the administration was our way of saying that we need to change the way we think about developing resilient capabilities in space.”

   Schulte stressed the word “resilience” as a focal point of the Pentagon’s efforts to leverage new policy and procurement strategies in working with commercial hosted payload suppliers. “We are placing added emphasis on tackling the congested, contested and competitive aspects of space security by strengthening the resilience of our space architecture. The functional capabilities that hosted payloads provide can no longer be viewed as an experiment,” he said. “Recent examples in orbit, such as the ORS-1 satellite and the CHIRP payload onboard SES-2, show that cost over performance should not be the one, defining approach to meeting requirements. Some would say that the United States can’t afford these complex systems, but the defense department would argue that the United States can’t afford to miss out on the security capabilities they deliver.”

   U.S. military procurement procedures and the enactment of policy to support hosted payload and other private-industry space programs have long been areas of confusion for the satellite industry. Complex legal issues and ITAR laws prohibiting the launch of military hosted payloads have only added to that confusion. Schulte, however, provided hints of a potential new direction in government policy during his remarks.

   “Our existing deterrent strategies for space attacks hasn’t changed much from the 1950s,” said Schulte. “We are working on an update to the current National Transportation Policy to give us more access to international allies and partners as options. We think it is in our national security interest to do so as hosted payloads could provide the door to more international cooperation among allies and assist the Pentagon in developing counter-measures against hostile actions in space.”

  Doug Loverro, who serves as executive director of the U.S. Space and Missile Systems Center in California, echoed Schulte’s sentiments on international cooperation during his speech at the event’s keynote luncheon.

   “SES-2’s CHIRP hosted payload is the exact definition of international partnership. This is a satellite that was commissioned by a company based in Luxembourg, built by a U.S. manufacturer and launched by a French company from a facility in French Guiana, sharing payload space with a Middle-Eastern satellite,” said Loverro. “The concept and potential of hosted payloads are not new ideas to the government – they’re just not used to them.”

CLARIFICATION – An earlier version of this story listed Doug Loverro’s position as SES director of the U.S. Space and Missile Systems Center. SES did not refer to the satellite operator but as an acronym for his position as executive director.