This project seeks to broaden global launch opportunities and enhance operational flexibility for the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and its allies. Current site-selection processes are often siloed, manual, and lack the multi-domain granularity required to assess the complex interplay between geographic, political, and logistical variables at operational planning scale. To ensure persistent access to space and support expeditionary launch capabilities, there is a critical need for a centralized, data-driven decision-support framework. To address this gap, the DAF seeks the development of Project Celestial: an integrated survey platform and decision-support framework capable of identifying, evaluating, and ranking global sites for terrestrial and maritime spaceport operations. The system must synthesize multiple data streams to provide commanders and planners with high-confidence assessments for both military and dual-use infrastructure development. The solution should be capable of: - Comprehensive Data Synthesis: Integrating multi-domain data, including: - Geographic & Logistical: Latitude, proximity to the equator, downrange hazard modeling, range safety, and existing site infrastructure (port access, fuel, power, and road/rail connectivity). - Political & Legal: Host nation stability, international treaty constraints, regulatory compliance, and overflight rights. - Maritime Specifics: Analysis of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), sea state variance, and proximity to major commercial shipping lanes. - Environmental & Societal: Population density, ecological protection zones, and indigenous land rights impact. - Security & Threat Modeling: Assessing site resilience in contested environments, the ability to secure critical launch technology, and evaluating dual-use risk profiles. - Collaboration Analytics: Identifying opportunities for allied and commercial partnerships based on local aerospace presence, commercial provider accessibility, and international agreement frameworks. - Dynamic Decision Support: Providing a customizable interface that allows users to weigh different criteria based on mission-specific requirements (e.g., prioritizing "rapid response" versus "long-term sustainment"). - Scalability: Maintaining accuracy and reliability when transitioning from localized survey datasets to global, theater-level analyses. This topic seeks a robust decision-support framework that enables objective, data-driven site analysis. By standardizing the evaluation process, Project Celestial will directly support the DAF’s objective to expand space access and enhance the resilience of the nation’s launch infrastructure through informed, strategic site selection.
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