AFRL to Pursue Cislunar SSA Through Oracle Family of Systems

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has combined two programs designed to develop cislunar space situational awareness capabilities into a single system.

The Oracle family of systems includes the original Oracle system, now called Oracle Prime, and Oracle Mobility, previously known as Defense Deep Space Sentinel. The two systems would allow military, civilian and contractor scientists to analyze data and help the U.S. Space Force create technologies and capabilities for deep space exploration and safety.

Oracle-M is a low-cost deep space mobility pathfinder that enables cislunar operations and tracks known cislunar objects. The system is expected to be delivered by mid-2024.

Oracle-P is a cislunar SSA experiment designed to search for and capture unknown or lost objects in cislunar space. A 2026 delivery and 2027 launch timetable is expected for Oracle-P, the Air Force Materiel Command said.

The Oracle reorganization is part of the U.S. military’s ongoing study on cislunar SSA.

In November, the Space Force awarded the Australian company Saber Astronautics a $1.2 million contract to develop a visualization platform that can track and predict the trajectories of satellites in cislunar orbit. The Space Cockpit platform is being developed alongside Purdue University.