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(1/9) The true value of small launchers to national security is in their flexibility. Rideshare will likely always provide a better value, and is adequate to meet most *current* military needs - but those needs are rapidly evolving. https://spacenews.com/governments-role-in-the-small-launch-market-not-quite-black-and-white/
(2/9) We design security space systems to meet a particular mission, performed from a prescribed orbit. These plans are laid in well years in advance of their deployment. That allows plenty of time for rideshare planning. Rideshare delays are frustrating, but surmountable.
(3/9) But what if we started thinking differently about how we use space for national security? What other military systems to we deploy to a domain years before (or even worse, after) we need them? None.
(4/9) But the fact is that government customers aren't asking for flexibility out of our launchers yet, because we don't architect or operate space systems that could take advantage of it. But we should be. Why? A few reasons stand out.
(5/9) Reason 1: Global air superiority isn't what it used to be. We will inevitably need to perform ISR on-demand over places we can't fly planes. We should develop and field systems that allow us to do so, on short notice, to access anywhere on the globe.
(6/9) Reason 2: Modern electronics and manufacturing have enabled extremely low cost, low SWaP, high performance systems that can perform useful missions in compact packages. Fast and small no longer equals low performance.
(7/9) Reason 3: We created a Space Force on the premise that our space systems are critical and at risk. We cannot wait until the day that we lose essential space-based functionality to think about how we would rapidly replace it, nor can we afford 'spares" for existing systems.
(8/9) These reasons point to the possibility of creating space systems to operate like we do in other domains: fielding capabilities at a time and place of need to perform a prescribed mission to support national security. We should aspire to make our use of space mirror this.
(9/9) To do so means creating both satellites and launch vehicles that are inexpensive enough to be used in a tactical manner, and purposely designed to be launched, fielded, and providing useful data within hours of need. That's unheard of for space. But it's not crazy.
