The Space Development Agency intends to issue a solicitation for 28 "Tranche 1 Tracking Layer" satellites within the next two weeks, a senior official said, with an eye on making awards to two vendors.
A decision about whether to go forward this year with Tracking Layer Tranche 1 or wait until fiscal 2023 funds are available could happen "within the next few weeks," said SDA Director Derek Tournear.
On-board, or "edge," processing is key to SDA's plans to develop a satellite network that can gather data from multiple sensors on the ground, at sea and in space to provide operators with precise, near-real-time targeting information.