USSF eyes creation of ‘free flyer' surveillance constellation
A Kestrel Eye Block II nanosatellite during development. (US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command)
US Space Force (USSF) is aiming to create new surveillance and reconnaissance satellite constellations, utilising so-called “free flyer” space vehicles (SVs), which operate more akin to unmanned aircraft system (UAS) swarms than traditional constellations.
Industry input for development of “a future [space] surveillance architecture” to support these free flyer SV constellations was submitted to USSF officials with the service's Space Systems Command (SSC) in January 2026, in response to a November 2025 request for information (RFI).
Specifically, the RFI issued by SSC's space reconnaissance and surveillance branch stated that “the primary objective of this proliferated constellation will be to autonomously search for, detect, and revisit Resident Space Objects (RSOs)” at geosynchronous (GEO) orbit.
“The SVs will operate within an existing ground platform, architecture, and operational unit that currently supports command-and-control (C2), planning, and data distribution functions to established databases and end-users,” SSC programme officials added in the RFI.
Free flyer SVs, traditionally the size of mini or nanosatellites, have been used in support of civilian space operations by NASA. Administration officials define the SVs as spacecraft “that are intended to operate primarily near another spacecraft under their own propulsive control”, according to NASA documents.
Released into orbit via a larger host satellite or space bus, these free flyer SVs would then be released to carry out specific missions ranging from RSO monitoring and management to space situational awareness (SSA) operations.
Free Flyer SVs such as the Autonomous Extravehicular Activity Robotic Camera Sprint (AERCam Sprint) and the Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES), Experimental Satellite System-11 (XSS-11) were all developed by NASA.
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