L to R: Ravnish Luthra and Paul Graziani

SamKalpa Systems, an Indian deep-tech company formed an alliance with US-based defence and space manufacturing company, COMSPOC, for Space Situational Awareness on February 9, 2023. The joint venture is named ‘Vedcomspoc’ and aims to provide accurate, timely, and scalable solutions for identifying potential threats in space, tracking and simulating space events, and performing assessments for proactive Space Traffic Management and Awareness.

In the current geopolitical climate, governments are becoming more aware of the importance of protecting their space assets and safeguarding them against potential threats. With rival nations rapidly developing and launching new space capabilities, the security of satellites has become an increasingly critical aspect of national defence strategies. Vedcomspoc is the only solution that can accept any form of observations and provide solutions in all orbital regimes—from VLEO (Very low Earth Orbit) to Cislunar and interplanetary. As space becomes a central aspect of communication, collaboration, and research for nations, it is imperative that governments and organisations ensure the safety of their space assets.

In a statement, Ravnish Luthra, CEO, SamKalpa expressed that the company is committed to the ‘Make in India’ initiative by creating an India-specific layer on top of a military-grade space situational awareness (SSA) platform, which is powered by a physics engine consisting of 13 million lines of rocket science code. “SamKalpa formed a joint venture with COMSPOC to establish Vedcomspoc, a local entity that will further develop the engine and provide SSA solutions not only in India but also for other friendly countries. The aim of Vedcomspoc is to advance India's progress and make it a leader in the field of space situational awareness.” He also emphasised the importance of space systems as a critical component of modern defence systems and stated that being prepared to defend space assets makes India stronger. “Vedcomspoc seeks to strengthen India's space domain awareness by providing an enterprise software platform that delivers high accuracy, low latency, and high-capacity SSA across all orbital regimes.”

Paul Graziani, CEO, COMSPOC, noted that India is now in a remarkable position to take its space capabilities to an international level. He expressed his desire to collaborate closely with both the US and Indian governments to exchange information in the areas of space domain awareness and space traffic management. “The significance of international collaboration in space situational awareness as the number of objects in space continues to escalate. With a large number of satellites, debris, and other objects orbiting the Earth, the countries working together to guarantee the security of their space-based assets is important.”

Today’s space operational environment is congested, contested, and competitive. Over 7000 satellites are operating in Earth orbit, among a total population of just over 24000 catalogued objects, the rest of the objects are dead satellites and a significant amount of space debris. Debris is created from launch and on-orbit operations when satellites are decommissioned (and improperly disposed of), and when satellites fragment or break up in space.

There are governments that recognise the importance of protecting their space assets from potential threats, as well as mitigating or countering the capabilities of adversary assets, as part of their national defence strategy. Some countries, including rivals, are quickly developing, building and launching greater capacities. As space becomes progressively central to the way that nations communicate, collaborate, and conduct research, it is becoming increasingly vital for governments and organisations to secure their satellites from threats.