From solar power in space to the evolving roll of commercial satellites, 2022 saw more activity, and more controversy, in the heavens.
By Theresa HitchensB-21, hypersonics and more: How digital development is driving industry innovation
Technological advancements are key to keeping pace with customer demands and evolving threat landscapes.
“There must be a predictable, transparent and common sense regulatory framework that protects investment and lower barriers to entry for private capital,” said Axiom Space’s Mary Lynne Dittmar.
By Theresa Hitchens
The concept of solar power satellites, first posited in 1968, seems to be back in fashion — not just in the US with initiatives at DoD and NASA, but around the globe, including in Beijing.
By Theresa Hitchens
Listing a series of theoretical space capabilities, the Ministry of Defence’s Director for Space, Air Vice-Marshal Harv Smyth, said, “Who would not be excited by this?”
By Andrew White
SSPIDR consists of several small-scale flight experiments that will mature technology needed to build a prototype solar power distribution system.
By Theresa Hitchens
Among all the space action over the past year, AFRL’s push to expand military space operations to cislunar space — the vast volume of space between the Earth’s outer orbit and that of the Moon — and beyond has been a gift that keeps on giving.
By Theresa Hitchens
Arachne’s initially envisioned launch date of 2024 now has been pushed back to early 2025 — not because of any internal problems, but because of the difficulty of getting a ride to Low Earth Orbit.
By Theresa Hitchens
A major overhaul is coming in software for missile warning
Space Systems Command’s FORGE program is the first, major missile-warning software modernization effort in 20 years.
“[W]e don’t have a military reason to go to the Moon today, but we do have long term-objectives that include the expansion out to the Moon and beyond,” Space Force Chief Scientist Joel Mozer says.
By Theresa Hitchens
Satellites and facilities in cislunar space could very well become the first customers of beamed power as it gradually comes on line, an Aerospace study finds.
By Theresa Hitchens
One of the first projects the new DeSel lab will work on is testing structures for a futuristic capability that could be enabled by on-orbit assembly and manufacturing: space-based solar power.
By Theresa Hitchens
Given “aggressive and warlike actions, threatening actions, by space competitors, it’s important for us to have an entity that is focused entirely on space defense, and space capability,” said Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett of the new Space Force.
By Theresa Hitchens
