Space Development Agency resumes key satellite launches after delays, watchdog criticisms

After a nine-month pause, the Space Development Agency is finally scheduled to launch its next batch of satellites for its sprawling military-communication constellation—even as draft legislation weighs dissolving the agency.

SDA is scheduled to launch its next 21 Tranche 1 satellites on Thursday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Their payloads will be part of the data-transport layer of the agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a network of hundreds of low-earth-orbit satellites to be used for space-based military communications and threat detection. After the first two batches of those satellites were sent into orbit this past fall, SDA paused further launches as officials worked through technical problems.

“We did see software and hardware issues on the ones on orbit right now,” Gurpartap Sandhoo, the Space Development Agency’s director, told reporters on Wednesday.  “That's why we kind of delayed and took a pause to make sure we fix at least the known issues. We expect this launch to be a lot smoother than the last one.”

After Thursday’s launch, Sandhoo said, the agency will have roughly half of the transport layer’s satellites on orbit. Satellites for the next layer, known as Tranche 2, are anticipated to start going up in fiscal year 2027. 

Despite the delays, Sandhoo said SDA is “in a better place in terms of schedule.” 

Yet his agency might not survive long as an independent entity. A draft version of the National Defense Authorization Act aims to fold the agency and authorities into the Space Force’s portfolio acquisition executive.

Sandhoo said SDA employees may have “some concerns” with the draft language. But workers are “here for the mission” and to get the architecture done, he said.

Government watchdogs have repeatedly questioned the technology behind the satellite constellation.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office raised concerns about its laser-communications technology, saying that it “hasn't fully demonstrated that it works in space.” The agency pushed back on the report and said it had achieved “baseline objectives” with tests.

In January, GAO reported that SDA’s program “is at risk of being unable to deliver capability as quickly as planned” and said the agency “should be more realistic and transparent on the technology it can deliver.

Sandhoo pushed back on those findings as well, telling reporters that the agency needs to take risks to bring crucial space-based technologies to the troops.

“I would want you to go back and look at the Apollo program. I mean, you did not wait until Apollo 8 landed before you start building Apollo 9, right? You just had to do it,” Sandhoo said.  “That's the kind of mindset we're taking. That's what I think the nation needs right now.”