Small Satellites, Big Constellations

The Space Development Agency seeks to revolutionize U.S. military space capabilities with the National Defense Space Architecture. This consists of large constellations of small satellites providing various capabilities. As shown in an SDA graphic above, these include a global, persistent, low-latency data and communications transport layer; a tracking layer monitoring and providing warning for advanced missile threats; a custody layer providing around-the-clock, all-weather...