Project Blackjack: DARPA’s test of satellite laser links delayed

Project Blackjack: DARPA’s test of satellite laser links delayed
Project Blackjack: DARPA’s test of satellite laser links delayed

A DARPA official couldn’t confirm an exact launch date for the two Telesat birds, but explained in an email today that the agency is awaiting on a launch slot as well as the availability of an integration facility.

DARPA’s Mandrake 2 satellites: communicating at the speed of light

DARPA’s Mandrake 2 satellites: communicating at the speed of light
DARPA’s Mandrake 2 satellites: communicating at the speed of light

Mandrake 2’s next trick, after demonstrating optical intersatellite links, will be using lasers for space-to-ground communications.

DoD, IC must better harvest commercial space innovation, officials say

DoD, IC must better harvest commercial space innovation, officials say
DoD, IC must better harvest commercial space innovation, officials say

“The good news is the government is very interested in the commercial opportunities, but from the industry standpoint, it’s hard to figure out like what door to walk through and how to how to make that contact,” said Steve Isakowitz, CEO of the Aerospace Corporation.

Loft Orbital’s ‘Rideshare’ Sats: Take An Uber To Space

Loft Orbital’s ‘Rideshare’ Sats: Take An Uber To Space
Loft Orbital’s ‘Rideshare’ Sats: Take An Uber To Space

Loft’s two satellites are carrying payloads for a Space Development Agency demo, the UAE Space Agency and European commercial satcom firm Eutelsat, among others.

SDA Demos Spotlight Tech Hurdles To JADC2 Backbone

SDA Demos Spotlight Tech Hurdles To JADC2 Backbone
SDA Demos Spotlight Tech Hurdles To JADC2 Backbone

Two of the experiments, each involving two satellites, are focused on laser links: one between satellites themselves; the other from satellites to a MQ-9 Reaper drone on the ground.

Space Force Wants Extra $$ To Speed Deep Space Ops

Space Force Wants Extra $$ To Speed Deep Space Ops
Space Force Wants Extra $$ To Speed Deep Space Ops

The largest of the four categories is called “Develop A Warfighter Punch” and includes $279 million for classified programs.

Exclusive: DARPA ‘Likely’ To Demo Only 2 Blackjack Payloads

Exclusive: DARPA ‘Likely’ To Demo Only 2 Blackjack Payloads
Exclusive: DARPA ‘Likely’ To Demo Only 2 Blackjack Payloads

“We really focused on payloads that had tactical utility, because they were an underserved market,” said Blackjack program manager Stephen Forbes.

Northrop Breaks Into DARPA’s Blackjack

Northrop Breaks Into DARPA’s Blackjack
Northrop Breaks Into DARPA’s Blackjack

The company’s software-defined Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technology will offer military users an agile new signal from low Earth orbit (LEO) that is not dependent on existing satellite navigation systems,” said Nicholas Paraskevopoulos, Northrop Grumman’s chief technology officer.

SDA & DARPA: June Demos To Prove Optical Sat Link Capability

SDA & DARPA: June Demos To Prove Optical Sat Link Capability
SDA & DARPA: June Demos To Prove Optical Sat Link Capability

“Getting a laser beam on a spacecraft to point to a laser receiver on another spacecraft accurately enough with the right power levels, the right waveforms, etc.,– it’s not an easy thing,” said General Atomics VP Nick Bucci.

DARPA’s Blackjack Jumps Forward With Payload, Bus, Demo Awards

DARPA’s Blackjack Jumps Forward With Payload, Bus, Demo Awards
DARPA’s Blackjack Jumps Forward With Payload, Bus, Demo Awards

Risk reduction missions this year “are separate flights to prove technologies” and not part of the planned 20-satellite Blackjack constellation, explains program manager Rusty Thomas.

The Key To All-Domain Warfare Is ‘Predictive Analysis:’ Gen. O’Shaughnessy

The Key To All-Domain Warfare Is ‘Predictive Analysis:’ Gen. O’Shaughnessy
The Key To All-Domain Warfare Is ‘Predictive Analysis:’ Gen. O’Shaughnessy

WASHINGTON: Northern Command head Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy says the key to winning tomorrow’s all-domain wars is predicting an adversary’s actions — as well as the impacts of US military responses — hours and even days in advance. The capability to perform such “predictive analysis” will be enabled by the US military’s Joint All-Domain Command and…

Build, Upgrade Satellites Fast For Space Resilience: Aerospace Corp.

Build, Upgrade Satellites Fast For Space Resilience: Aerospace Corp.
Build, Upgrade Satellites Fast For Space Resilience: Aerospace Corp.

“Upfront investments are necessary to break the vicious cycle in which current DOD high-value assets are stuck” to increase space resiliency, the Aerospace Corp. study argues.

DARPA Doubles Dough For Nuclear-Powered Cislunar Rocket

DARPA Doubles Dough For Nuclear-Powered Cislunar Rocket
DARPA Doubles Dough For Nuclear-Powered Cislunar Rocket

DARPA’s budget documents say cislunar orbit is the “new high ground” at risk of being taken over by US adversaries.

Hey SDA, AFRL Boosts Space-Based Internet Tests

Hey SDA, AFRL Boosts Space-Based Internet Tests
Hey SDA, AFRL Boosts Space-Based Internet Tests

“I’ve never gotten a briefing from the Space Development Agency,” Roper said, “so I don’t know what their plan, I don’t know what they’re intending.”