As China and other countries invest heavily in new satellites, a Colorado Air Force reservist recently received a $2.5 million grant to develop software that will help identify potential threats in space faster.

Lt. Col. Nicholas Demakakos envisions that, once created, the artificial intelligence software will bring together data about satellites collected from different sources and the satellites history to help predict their behavior. Demakakos is the senior intelligence officer for the Colorado Springs-based 310th Space Wing, the only space-focused unit in the reserve with missions in missile warning, environmental intelligence, orbital warfare and offensive counterspace, among others.

While working for the 310th, he lived in south Denver to balance his time between Peterson, Schriever and Buckley Space Force bases. He is currently studying military science at the Army War College in Pennsylvania.

If fully developed, the software he dubbed the Space Targeting Analyses and Reporting Celestial Information System, or STARCIS, would be purpose-built to gather intelligence, as the Department of Defense is handing off civil space traffic control services to the Department of Commerce.

At the same time, China is aiming to displace the U.S. as the global leader in space and it is investing in directed-energy weapons, electronic warfare and anti-satellite capabilities, Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said last week.

“[China] counts on what they perceive as a U.S. overreliance on space, and it intends to hold that capability at risk,” Kruse said, according to a Department of Defense news release.

The software in development would help intelligence officers focus on satellites that could cause harm and prioritize the use of sensors that are in high demand, Demakakos said.

He wants to see the software create “the environment to be able to fuse all these different data sets about one object or multiple objects, make sense of them and report on them in a timely manner,” he said. For example, images of a satellite, information on its radio frequencies and other data are collected separately and the software would bring that information together.

The software could have similarities to Google Maps, he explained, allowing operators to filter data and key in on useful information. It would also allow analysts to ask basic questions and receive answers.

Right now, space operators can wait an hour for reports that bring information about a satellite together, he said. The software is intended to cut the wait time to 15 minutes or less.

Such reports could help collect information on newly launched satellites, including those sent up with microsatellites around them.

“We have found ourselves in scenarios where we are trying to tag and understand what each object is around this bigger satellite,” he said. It could also help monitor suspected debris and determine if it is exhibiting potentially threatening behavior.

The grant is the culmination of five years of work, which included tracking down what other software programs existed across the Department of Defense that could potentially fulfill the requirements, he said. While one or two existing programs could have been built out to meet the intelligence needs, they would have been controlled by other agencies that might not prioritize developing the program or end it abruptly.

The Air Force’s Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Modernization, Automation and Development program selected 18 proof-of-concept presentations for funding, including STARCIS.

On its current path, STARCIS would be controlled and funded by the Space Force.

Demakakos is working with Prescient Edge to build the prototype by Sept. 30, 2025. The company would not retain any intellectual property rights, reducing licensing fees for the government, he said.

He expects to work with the Joint Commercial Operations cell in Colorado Springs to test the prototype.

“I have a good feeling once we deploy the prototype, the community is going to realize its value,” he said.