Space domain awareness is one of the mission areas that SPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting said currently needs improved command and control capabilities.
By Theresa HitchensRocket development builds on tried and true experience for new orbital missions
With Russian engines out of the picture, there’s a new Medium Launch Vehicle on the horizon that is US sourced with a fairing sized to launch constellations.
Under the contract, SpRCO’s Rapid Resilient Command and Control project, nicknamed R2C2, will buy ground software in “bite-sized pieces” to support new Space Force satellites capable of rapid and sustained maneuver.
By Theresa Hitchens
“I think the US national security community is going to shape commercial space for the foreseeable future,” Carissa Bryce Christensen, CEO of BryceTech, told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens
Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, who has been charged to establish the new Space Force Futures Command, said cislunar and dynamic space operations are areas for the command’s scrutiny, since neither have yet proven their ‘military utility.”
By Theresa Hitchens
Lars Hoffman, Blue Origin’s vice president of national security sales, said that a viable commercial market for space mobility and logistics “doesn’t exist right now.”
By Theresa Hitchens
“We can’t expect to bridge the valley of death through S&T programs, and industry accelerator programs. … We need to identify and prioritize resources, funding and personnel,” said Diane Howard, National Space Council head of commercial space policy.
By Theresa Hitchens
Northrop Grumman has been working the Space Systems Command, DARPA and the Defense Innovation Unit to develop the capabilities to refuel and service satellites on orbit under several different study efforts.
By Theresa Hitchens
With AI and computer vision, almost any platform can be autonomous
The use of computer vision and perceptive autonomy can have a profound impact on speeding the Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA) loop.
The Mitchell Institute is advocating that from now on Congress bolster the Space Force’s budget by “about $250M a year” and “increase end strength by approximately 200 personnel for the new responsibilities associated with emerging national interests on the moon and the cislunar region.”
By Theresa Hitchens
“And so I think, as you see new missions come on, you can presume that that means more Guardians to perform those missions, and we’ll have to adjust the strength going up,” said CSO Gen. Chance Saltzman.
By Theresa Hitchens
“This oversight regime will balance economic competitiveness together with safety, security, sustainability, and responsibility,” states the new United States Novel Space Activities Authorization and Supervision Framework.
By Theresa Hitchens Space Rapid Capabilities Office Director Kelly Hammett declined to share much about the new “threat warning” sensors, but gave updates on other closely held programs.
By Theresa Hitchens
“I don’t care what it takes to get after the threat. That’s really the cultural change that we’re embarking upon,” SSC head Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein told the Space Force Association’s inaugural Spacepower conference.
By Theresa Hitchens
“In a sense, we drive our satellites today as if we’re going to church. Our adversaries drive their satellites as if they’re going to combat,” Lt. Gen. John Shaw, who recently retired from US Space Command, told Breaking Defense in this Q&A.
By Theresa Hitchens
Technologies being explored include “lunar power; mining and commercial in-situ resource utilization; communications, navigation, and timing; transit, mobility, and logistics; and construction and robotics,” according to DARPA.
By Theresa Hitchens
