Space strategies, ops and tech go into hyperdrive: 5 stories from 2022
From solar power in space to the evolving roll of commercial satellites, 2022 saw more activity, and more controversy, in the heavens.
National Space Council hears industry pitches, complaints as prelude to new rules
"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.
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CAE and General Atomics use AI to enhance warfighter readiness, refine aerospace platforms, and learn from simulations.
The next energy frontier: A race for solar power from space?
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.
Power beamed from space, rocket cargo: UK military looking at ‘game-changing’ space tech
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?"
Next step for AFRL’s space-based solar power quest: energy beaming
SSPIDR consists of several small-scale flight experiments that will mature technology needed to build a prototype solar power distribution system.
Space was the place, including for starry-eyed optimism: 5 Stories From 2021
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.
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Faster propulsion R&D for modern airpower
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
AFRL’s Arachne achieves power conversion, chasing sci-fi-esque space-based solar power
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.
Solar Power Sats Help Drive DoD Deep Space Push
"[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.
AFRL Ponders Solar Power Beaming For Lunar Patrol Sat
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.
AFRL’s Newest Lab Aims At Building Things In Space
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.
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X-37B’s Next Mission To Demo Space-Based Solar Power
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.