WASHINGTON — A plan floated by military agencies to interconnect commercial and government satellite networks into a “hybrid” space architecture seems impractical, industry executives said.
The concept, sometimes referred to as the “outernet,” has been embraced by the U.S. Space Force and the Defense Innovation Unit. The idea is that, in a hybrid network, communication would flow seamlessly across disparate government and commercial systems.
“In a fully realized hybrid architecture, it will not matter if a commercial node is blocked, shut down, or destroyed, the future network will self heal and provide true resilience as long as there is an entry point for an individual user into the network,” DIU said in an announcement about the project.
The hybrid network plan also has been endorsed by industry groups and congressional committees. But during a…
