Fred Kennedy, director of Space Development Agency, said that lawmakers are showing interest in supporting the newly-established agency, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.
The Pentagon stood up SDA to help utilize commercial technologies to accelerate development of space systems in March. Kennedy said a House Armed Services subcommittee included provisions to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which would direct the agency to procure commercial space situational awareness services and design navigation satellite receivers to support NATO and Japan space techs.Â
“They’ve assigned tasks. That’s a good sign,†he said during a speech at the MITRE campus. “That means they recognize the need for something like an SDA and they’re trying to figure out what to make it go do.â€Â
Kennedy added that previous meetings in Congress were “very fruitful†despite the lack of final budget for SDA. The Department of Defense requested a $149.8 million funding for the agency in fiscal year 2020. Initial project assigned to SDA will focus on planning a new constellation of low-cost satellites in low-Earth orbit for the military.
