Cislunar space is the region beyond Earth's orbit all the way out to the Moon. (Image: NASA)
WASHINGTON ― Developing capabilities for operations in cislunar space, including offensive space control, is among the top new science and technology (S&T) priorities for US Space Command (SPACECOM), according to the command’s top scientist.
David Denhard, SPACECOM’s chief scientist and technical advisor, told the State of the Space Industrial Base (SSIB) conference in New Mexico on Thursday that operations beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit (xGEO) are on the command’s “what’s hot for tomorrow” list of S&T activities he approved earlier this month.
“Cislunar and xGEO is important to us,” Denhard said.
“First, from a PNT [positioning, navigation, and timing] perspective, you need timing in that area. You don’t get GPS signals very far out of GEO. We want space domain awareness in that area; so, we want to know what our adversary is doing in GEO and beyond. And then, eventually, we want to exploit that space from an offensive sort of space control perspective,” he elaborated.
