Riverside Research Leading Three Non-Traditional Organizations on DEEP-SDA Prototype Project

Oct 4, 2023 – Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Innovation and Prototyping Acquisition Delta recently announced its award of the Data Exploitation and Enhanced Processing for Space Domain Awareness (DEEP-SDA) prototype to Riverside Research.

This project, spearheaded by Riverside Research, will be supported by the three subsidiaries, all of which are non-traditional organizations: CMSOC Corp, Spire Global Subsidiary, and SciTec Inc.

A lack of U.S. government awareness of the space domain could deprive the United States Space Force (USSF) of indications or warnings of adversary actions and increase the vulnerability of USSF systems and various other U.S. government on-orbit space systems. The DEEP-SDA prototype will utilize existing star trackers to collect and exploit data already being collected, filling the gaps in space domain coverage. This prototype will deliver these products and files in a timely manner and create a sustainable capability for operators who need the information regularly.

Following its release in May of 2023, ten out of 13 submissions for DEEP-SDA were small non-traditional defense contractors. The interest and participation from these companies that are new to the defense industry is a powerful indicator of the Other Transaction Authority’s (OTA) effectiveness in bridging the gap between government and industry innovation.

Awarded through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) OTA and managed by National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL), DEEP-SDA will automate current manual data exploitation techniques and deliver user-friendly SDA products at low latencies. This effort is crucial as SDA provides space operators with critical insights that allow the government to make informed and decisive actions in the space domain.

About SpEC

The Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) was created in 2017 through the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. SpEC was created to bridge the cultural gap between military buyers and commercial space startups and small businesses through OTAs. SpEC’s innovative contracting process allows them to solicit bids from a mix of member companies including companies that have not previously done work with the DoD.

About NSTXL

NSTXL is focused on building a network of innovators and creators across the most sought-after emerging technology fields. As an open-source platform, our approach was designed to encourage network growth and collaboration without stifling change. We support our network by providing commercial-term contracting, open-source technology discovery, modern-day marketing outreach, a strongly interconnected network for easy teaming and cybersecurity compliance support.