The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is planning to solicit offers in March for a satellite experiment that will track space objects between geostationary orbit and the moon, Defense News reported Monday.
Col. Eric Felt, director of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate, said in a recent C4ISRNET interview that an award for the Cislunar Highway Patrol System is expected in summer ahead of a planned launch in 2025.
CHPS is among the various programs that reflect the Department of Defense’s increased interest in the cislunar region amid a rise in what Felt described as adversarial and commercial activities related to the area.
“That pace of activity then causes us to say: ‘Well, we had a plan to get after cislunar space domain awareness, but now we need to accelerate our plan because things are happening much faster than we expected,’” explained the colonel.
In January, Chief of Space Operations and 2022 Wash100 Award recipient Gen. John Raymond revealed during a Mitchell Institute Event that he expects the Space Force to send a space domain awareness capability in the cislunar region within the next decade.