Umbra Secures SDA Contract to Enhance PWSA with SAR Technology

On October 22, 2024, Umbra Space, an American commercial company based in Santa Barbara, California, announced that it had been selected by the Space Development Agency (SDA) to analyze the possibility of integrating its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technologies into SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

The collaboration involves a multi-million dollar contract and will explore how Umbra’s high-resolution and weather-independent imaging can improve real-time data transmission, missile tracking, and communications, helping to provide critical support to U.S. military operations globally.

“Umbra is fully aligned with SDA’s mission, and we are excited to support this important investment in advancing their future architecture. Both SDA and Umbra share a commitment to delivering innovative solutions with speed and value. This partnership is a natural fit, and we look forward to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to accomplish SDA’s objectives.”

— Bonnie Kean, Director of Mission Solutions at Umbra

Umbra and the Synthetic Aperture Radar

Founded in 2015, Umbra has emerged as an extremely important company in the field of remote sensing.  

The company launched its first commercial radar satellite, Umbra-01, in 2021 and, since then, has expanded its SAR satellite constellation to deliver high-resolution data for both public and private customers. Today the SAR constellation consists of eight spacecraft, deployed aboard different SpaceX Falcon 9 Transponder missions. The most recent pair, which included Umbra-07 and Umbra-08, was launched in November 2023 from Space Launch Center (SLC) 4E, at Vandenberg, California, and the constellation is designed to consist of 32 satellites eventually.

Each microsatellite has a mass of 70 kg, a five-year design life, and is equipped with a large deployable antenna.

The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a satellite imaging technology that uses electromagnetic waves to obtain high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface. Passive instruments, such as optical sensors, detect signals naturally reflected from surfaces.

On the other hand, active instruments like SAR emit their own signals and analyze the reflected waves. This capability allows SAR to penetrate clouds, rain, and fog, resulting in detailed images regardless of weather conditions, time of the day, or visibility.

Space Development Agency and PWSA

The Space Development Agency (SDA) is a U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) organization that develops advanced capabilities to support joint warfighting forces. SDA plays an essential role in the realization of low-latency space architectures, aimed at enhancing communication and missile tracking. The organization ensures continuous coverage that supports critical military operations with a network of small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). 

The Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) is a satellite constellation designed by SDA to provide the U.S. military with key capabilities such as enhanced communication and missile tracking. Today the PWSA is advancing toward its Tranche 1 deployment, which will add 126 Transport Layer satellites and 35 Tracking Layer satellites.

The Transport Layer ensures real-time data transfer, while the Tracking Layer is focused on missile detection. This phase builds upon the success of Tranche 0, which demonstrated the architecture’s capabilities. All Tranche 1 launches will be carried out by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA). The satellites are instead being produced by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris, Raytheon, and York Space Systems.

The collaboration between Umbra and the SDA represents a considerable step forward in enhancing the PWSA with advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar technologies.

^{*Cover image credits: Umbra via Twitter/X}