Demonstration of a Heterogeneous Satellite Architecture During RIMPAC 2018

The Micro-Satellite Military Utility (MSMU) Project Arrangement (PA) is an agreement under the Responsive Space Capabilities (RSC) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) involving the Departments and Ministries of Defence of Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom and United States. MSMU’s charter is to inform a space enterprise that provides military users with reliable access to a broad spectrum of information in an opportunistic environment. The MSMU community participated on a non-interference basis in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise from 26 June to 2 August 2018. This provided an opportunity to explore the military utility of a heterogeneous space architecture of satellites including traditional government and commercial satellites, as well as micro-satellites and nanosatellites associated with the “new space” paradigm. The objective was to test the hypothesis that a heterogeneous space architecture, mostly composed of small satellites, can bring significant value to the operational theatre. This paper describes the results from the MSMU experiment, outlines the lessons learned in terms of the infrastructure required to support such an experiment, and offers insights into the military utility of the heterogeneous space architecture. It concludes that a cooperative heterogeneous space architecture does have advantages and value, and that micro-satellites and nanosatellites contribute significant capability