DARPA is creating a system to detect spy satellites in space

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has commissioned a space startup, Slingshot Aerospace, to develop a new instrument called Agatha, designed to detect potentially dangerous satellites hiding in megaconstellations. The project is carried out as part of the PRECOG (Predictive Reporting and Enhanced Constellation Objective Guide) program, which began in March of last year and ended in January. The company received about $1 million for the work, according to government database HigherGov.

Slingshot Aerospace created 60 years of synthetic satellite constellation data for Agatha training. The system analyzes the behavior of the satellites and detects deviations to determine their true operational directives. For example, the slightest changes in the mass of the satellite, differences in the methods of communication with the Earth, or constant orientation in one direction may indicate inconsistency with the stated goals.

After training on simulations, Agatha was tested on real constellations, successfully identifying harmless satellites. The system currently runs on the Slingshot space domain awareness platform, gathering data from the company’s global sensor network, the Seradata database and other sources. Slingshot’s vice president of strategy and policy, Audrey Shaffer, noted that in the past, analyzing orbital trajectory data was done by humans or teams, but as the number of satellites increased to 10,000 to 15,000 in mega-constellations, it became impossible without automation.