“[P]roduct development has been slower than anticipated, and the projected date to decommission SPADOC continues to extend further to late FY24, a delay of more than two years from the original timeline,” according to the 2023 Annual Report of the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test & Evaluation.
By Theresa HitchensSpaceX alone was responsible for 98 of the 109 launch attempts made by the US in 2023, and 1,937 of the 2,234 US satellites successfully orbited.
By Theresa HitchensThe company said that on Thanksgiving, for instance, a Russian satellite’s sub-satellite — in a Matryoshka-style — released yet another satellite, in what a LeoLabs analysis said could’ve been timed for fewer American eyes on the sky.
By Theresa HitchensWhile the new Russian satellite didn’t get super close to any others, its behavior “could be considered unfriendly,” said Slingshot’s Audrey Schaffer, who until recently served as the director of space policy at the National Security Council.
By Theresa Hitchens“Commercial data, commercial processing is not classified. It does not matter that the DoD wishes it were,” said Barbara Golf, special advisor to Space Systems Command.
By Theresa HitchensThe COMSPOC study included a look at risks from unannounced rendezvous and proximity operations — such as those being routinely performed by the Russian “inspector” satellite Luch/Olymp that have raised hackles at the Defense Department — and the risks to US military satellites cause by mis-plotting the trajectories of adversary birds.
By Theresa HitchensThere is growing concern about what happens when different countries’ predictions of an on-orbit collision do not match, said Matt Hejduk, of The Aerospace Corporation. “A man with two watches never knows what time it is,” he quipped.
By Theresa HitchensThat pilot project will use SPACECOM’s Unified Data Library (UDL) as a data base, DalBello said, because Commerce is still in the early stages of creating its own cloud-based data storage capability, called the Open Architecture Data Repository (OADR).
By Theresa HitchensSpeaking with Breaking Defense and Defense One on Tuesday, SPACECOM head Gen. Jim Dickinson noted the importance of space “governance,” including “norms of responsible behavior,” and the “need to better preserve” the space environment.
By Theresa HitchensThe Commerce Department doesn’t simply want to replicate what DoD does now in providing space situational awareness data to industry, but go beyond to provide “a technologically superior product,” said Richard DalBello, head of DoC’s Commercial Space Office.
By Theresa HitchensSpace Force has established the new 19th Space Defense Squadron to monitor what officials now refer to as “xGEO” space.
By Theresa HitchensSpace Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron was “re-designated” on April 13 as the “18th Space Defense Squadron,” but will remain SPACECOM’s key provider of space domain awareness.
By Theresa Hitchens