The Space Force, in essence, wants to move the 2018-conceived Unified Data Library from a card catalog system to a machine-to-machine search engine using artificial intelligence tools.
"Providing space operators with relevant, timely data can help to prevent operational surprise and support efforts to protect and defend space assets," a recent report to Congress on Pentagon space policy and strategy says.
The draft National Space Authorization Act would also push Space Force on integrating commercial data and on over-classification of space programs.
If a modern integrated operations network is the foundation of the home, the Unified Data Library is the electricity flowing through it, Space Force Chief Technology Officer Lisa Costa told Breaking Defense. Also, the SpaceVerse will come into play somewhere down the line.
Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office is pushing the Space Force to move faster to actually integrate commercial SDA capabilities in order to fill capability gaps.
Space Force CTIO Linda Costa said the UDL “was built based on the premise that we’re just going to process Space Force data… [but] it’s really the commercial data at scale that we need to combine with the Space Force data.”