The Air Force Research Laboratory in the United States recently uploaded a movie to YouTube that received little notice. In spite of this, the US military aims to expand its space operations beyond geostationary orbit, or even to the moon.

As of now, the US space project has reached a height of 35,000 kilometers above the surface of the planet. We've moved on from that time period. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is expanding that range by ten times and the United States area of operations by 1,000 times, allowing us to reach the Moon's far side and beyond into the cislunar space.

This is the first time the US military has taken action on enlarging its operational domain. He intends to send a satellite into cislunar orbit, likely with a large telescope on board.

Satellite will be termed Cislunar Highway Patrol System, as per the video, according to ( CHPS ). There will be an RFP issued on March 21 by the research lab seeking prototype concepts for the CHPS satellite, with contract awards made in July.

Satellites developed by the U.S. Air Force Laboratory will serve as the first step in expanding U.S. space command activities from geostationary space to include a region beyond the lunar sphere.

U.S. space forces need to know what's going on in the vicinity of the moon in order to identify any potential threats, says Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, in an interview with the New York Times.

The CHPS satellite, according to Weeden, will not be able to deal with threats, but rather will provide information on the current state of affairs.

Who wants to know why the US space command wants to extend its activities to the moon? The movie cites the need to better manage the growing volume of spacecraft visiting the Moon, including NASA-sponsored commercial missions, the Artemis space agency program, and missions from other countries. Soon, the area will be overrun with people.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently published a paper titled Fly Me to the Moon that explores dozens of future moon trips.

The United States military hopes that the CHPS satellite and possibly future missions will help maintain a peaceful cislunar universe and a safe environment for scientific research and economic development.

With this new program, Weeden sees another strategic factor. When other governments place space objects in cislunar orbit, existing satellite networks lose them, he said. Military authorities have expressed alarm about this.

He said that such items may travel around the moon and then return to attack a U.S. military satellite from orbit.

A physics perspective suggests that it's a long shot, but it's possible and would take advantage of the current gap in American space awareness. As Weeden points out, the United States currently has no military assets in the cisnunar space, therefore this is a bigger concern for them than any actual cislunar space threats.