After two hard landings on the moon, Intuitive Machines is outlining a more diversified future for the company, with a greater emphasis on data services and other activities beyond lunar landings.

The proposed architecture would include 1,000 to 2,000 satellites arranged in 20 orbital planes. Each satellite would weigh between 40-80 kg, allowing 100 to be launched simultaneously on a large rocket. Executives emphasized that Brilliant Swarms would complement ongoing Pentagon programs led by the Space Development Agency and Missile Defense Agency.

On a recent podcast, Aerospace’s Lori Gordon discusses how the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space ISAC) is providing access to Accelerating Space Capabilities 100—an international federated network of Testbeds and Proving Grounds that simulate space operating conditions.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said the Space Force needs the ability to “maneuver without regret” on orbit. SPACECOM Commander Stephen Whiting highlighted “on-orbit refueling, in-space assembly, modular hardware upgrades and urgent orbital resupply” as key investment areas.

The Space Force is expecting to launch at least 100 satellites in 2025—nearly doubling its number of unclassified operational spacecraft—according to Maj. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence.

In a 2020 paper, Aerospace’s Dr. Rebecca Reesman and James R. Wilson wrote that satellites move are limited in how much they can change their orbits to intercept other satellites. But Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations, Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, recently said that five objects recently maneuvered “in and out and around each other in synchrony and in control.”

At March’s Corporate All Hands, Steve Isakowitz said, “Mr. Calvelli and Dr. LaPlante’s deep familiarity with our customers and their backgrounds in research, acquisition, and integration will lend invaluable expertise to Aerospace’s mission.”

Many of the spacecraft are part of the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, designed to provide 24/7 global communications and missile tracking from low Earth orbit.

The chief of space operations said the Space Force is examining how to best invest in six categories of counter-space weapons, because China is doing the same.

Key priorities include making data “accessible, understandable, secure and trustworthy”; advancing a data and AI-driven organizational culture; and strengthening academic, industrial, and international partnerships.