Smaller, Quicker, Secret, Robotic: Inside America's New Space Force: The era of big space missions is fading. "Small" is the new watch-word for America's orbital force. Think tiny satellites, secret space planes, and so-called "pseudolites" -- that is, relatively inexpensive robots, planes and airships operating in the very-high-but-not-quite-orbit upper atmosphere. They're all part of the Pentagon's new plans to dominate its rivals in orbit.