The Department of Defense needs a department-wide strategy for pursuing low-cost, responsive tactical space capabilities such as small satellites, and it should apply the successful – and experimental – practices developing the TacSat satellite to larger programs, the Government Accountability Office has said.
It said DoD recently began developing small satellites within a limited time frame and budget and delivered the first TacSat in 12 months for under $10 million.
The TacSat experiments could serve major space system acquisitions well, by demonstrating the value of matching available resources, using proven technologies and separating technology development from product development, according to GAO-06-449.
For example, the Office of Force Transformation, TacSat 1’s sponsor, set requirements early in the satellite’s development process and kept them stable, the report said.
It said that by modifying existing technologies for use in space, the department reduced the likelihood of hitting unforeseen problems that could result in costly design changes, and because the satellite was built within DoD’s science and technology environment, service lab scientists were able to address problems quickly, inexpensively and innovatively.
While DoD has made progress developing three other TacSats and is working toward developing a low-cost launch vehicle available on demand, limited collaboration between the science and technology community and acquisition community – as well as the latter’s tendency to expand requirements – could get in the way of efforts to quickly procure tactical capabilities, the report said.
It said getting funding for future TacSat experiments could also prove difficult because they are not part of an acquisition program, and that DoD lacks a department-wide strategy for implementing these efforts and key advocates for these experiments have left the department.
