After rigorous competition featuring over forty groundbreaking ideas, Space Systems Command (SSC) has selected three innovative projects for funding in its 2024 Fight Tonight competition, with solutions ranging from accelerating space data processing to forging new commercial partnerships.
Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of Space Systems Command, announced the results during the Space Force Ball in Los Angeles Nov. 15.
The SSC’s annual Fight Tonight competition debuted three years ago seeking to empower solutions in alignment with the critical Space Force mission of ensuring a secure space domain for all.
The competition is open to all SSC government employees and all ideas must have an operational sponsor from the Space Operations Command to validate that the proposal is operationally relevant.
This year, SSC challenged participants to address key areas including reducing operator workload, improving space situational awareness, enhancing the common operating picture for ops centers, supporting operations in denied areas, and boosting the resiliency of Tracking, Telemetry, and Command systems.
The three funded submissions were selected from the seven finalist teams, following their presentations to a panel of SSC senior leadership and judges last month.
Here are the top picks:
- The winning proposal was sponsored by SSC’s Space Base Delta 2, developed through a team effort led by Maj. Sean Allen, SSC’s Space Domain Awareness TAP Lab director. The capability, dubbed “Dungeons and Dragons: Countering Space-Domain Camouflage, Concealment and Detection,” is designed to detect space-domain camouflage, concealment, and deception. This tool identifies anomalies that could indicate hidden adversary space assets, ensuring U.S. systems are protected and enemy assets are uncovered.
- The first runner up was the Launch Logistics, Execution, and Programmatic System (LEAPS), which integrates and centralizes launch scheduling, managing a diverse range of data sources including supply chain management and launch operations. LEAPS aims to transform siloed data into actionable insights, supporting decisions at tactical, operational, and strategic levels. The project was sponsored by SSC’s Assured Access to Space program executive office and led by Derek Eichin, chief data officer for the Digital Transformation Office at Space Launch Delta 30, and Maj. Donovan Hutchins, director of AATS Command, Control, Communications, and Computers for Launch Operations and Integration.
- The second runner-up focused on pre-mission planning tool called the Precursor Refinement and Investigation Mapping for Exploration Recommendations (PRIMER). PRIMER analyzes satellite data to quickly identify “hot spots” for further investigation, delivering tactical data to warfighters 33 percent faster and cheaper. This final funded concept was sponsored by SSC’s Joint Commercial Operations Cell and led by Capt. McKenna Medina, Tactical Surveillance Reconnaissance and Tracking cell director under SSC’s Space Sensing Persistent Tactical Surveillance Branch.
