The head of the U.S. Space Force’s Commercial Space Office (COMSO), Col. Richard Kniseley, has announced an updated timetable for its innovative Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) initiative, a space version of the Civil Air Reserve. The main objective of the CASR is to obtain additional capacity or capabilities from commercial space data and service providers in times of crisis or war. As reported by Breaking Defense, COMSO expects to issue its first contracts by this year’s end.
Kniseley unveiled the updated timeline at the Washington Space Business Roundtable, informing attendees that his team plans to hold the next CASR industry session in August. That’s quicker than Kniseley had anticipated in March, when he initially aimed for September. He also revealed plans to release several documents for industry review across the mission areas prior to the session.
While the CASR concept was initiated by Space Systems Command early last year, the specifics remained scarce until COMSO circulated a first draft framework for industry commentary in July 2023. Under this concept, commercial partners voluntarily enlist to provide the Department of Defense (DoD) with the authority to either set aside some of their capacity or capabilities, enhance military usage, or override other customers’ access in times of crisis or conflict.
According to Kniseley, the initial focus will be mainly on space domain awareness when it comes to the execution of the first CASR contracts. The process will likely involve a call for contracts through the space domain awareness marketplace. Companies interested in becoming a CASR company would then enter negotiations to include unique provisions known as H-clauses under DoD contracting law. Kniseley expects this process to be continuously refined as they attract different mission areas and partnerships with more government entities.