What Does SRI Do in Space and Space Cybersecurity?

Updated

SRI has been involved in space exploration and communication since the beginning of the space age, and its current space work spans two areas: building hardware for space domain awareness and examining how cybersecurity assumptions must change as satellite networks grow. If you want to know what SRI actually does in space today, the clearest current examples are an optical payload subcontract for space domain awareness under a U.S.–Korea collaboration, and an ongoing forum discussion on cyber resilience in space.

Space domain awareness: the STEP Lab subcontract

SRI was awarded a subcontract to STEP Lab Ltd. to develop an optical payload for space domain awareness. This sits within a U.S.–Korea collaboration in which SRI won an autonomous Space Domain Awareness role.

In practical terms, space domain awareness means knowing what is happening in orbit — detecting and tracking objects and activity in space. An optical payload is the sensor component that supports that mission. The key detail here is the structure of the work: SRI is not the sole prime contractor but a subcontractor to STEP Lab Ltd., contributing a specific technical component within a larger international effort.

Cybersecurity for space

SRI frames space cybersecurity as a long-standing concern rather than a new one. Its own description notes that since the dawn of the space age, SRI has played a pivotal part in space exploration and communication — which means its security perspective is grounded in decades of involvement rather than a recent pivot.

The current problem, as presented through SRI's PARC Forum on cyber resilience in space, is that old security assumptions no longer hold as satellite networks grow in quantity and complexity. Two shifts drive this:

  • Scale — more satellites means more nodes, more links, and a larger attack surface.
  • Complexity — denser, more interconnected networks create dependencies and pathways that earlier, simpler architectures did not have.

The forum's framing is that resilience, not just prevention, becomes the operative goal once those assumptions break down.

How the two threads connect

Space domain awareness and space cybersecurity are related but distinct:

Area What SRI does Why it matters
Space domain awareness Develops an optical payload as subcontractor to STEP Lab Ltd. in a U.S.–Korea collaboration Knowing what is in orbit underpins any response to threats or interference
Space cybersecurity Examines how security assumptions fail as satellite networks scale and grow more complex, via PARC Forum discussions Growing networks need resilience, not just perimeter defense

The common thread is that both assume space is an operating environment with real adversaries and real failure modes, not a benign backdrop.

Where to look next

SRI's news and stories section carries the primary items referenced here: the Space Domain Awareness subcontract announcement, the PARC Forum on cyber resilience in space, and the broader "Cybersecurity for space" theme. If you are evaluating SRI as a collaborator, the relevant entry points are its government and commercial partnership channels, since its space work runs through contracted programs rather than off-the-shelf products.