Japan launches second US military payload to monitor space above Indo-Pacific
The data from the hosted payloads on QZS-7 and its predecessor QZS-6 will feed into the US Space Surveillance Network operated by the 18th Space Defense Squadron.
Beyond ‘potpourri’ of sensors: Saltzman pushes holistic approach to space domain awareness
The service needs to better detect and track on-orbit activity, and find objects that have been "lost" to its surveillance network, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said.
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Chinese sats appear to be attempting first-ever on-orbit refueling, sat tracking firms say
"While this type of close approach activity does not automatically signify a military mission, it obviously could provide a co-orbital counterspace capability," expert Victoria Samson told Breaking Defense.
EU space monitoring program moves toward ‘strategic autonomy’
Many of the sensors contributed by the 15 EU SST participating states are military assets, and the European Defence Fund also is being tapped to help foster commercial innovation in the space situational awareness domain.
Secret Space Force payloads monitor China’s satellite surveillance network, official says
Kelly Hammett, director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, said his organization risks being “inordinately impacted" by workforce reductions underway with the Trump administration.
US Olympic Defender allies seek ‘common’ space picture
“It’s essential that the [Olympic Defender] allies and partners have a shared understanding of the battlespace, to ensure mission impacting decision-making is based on common perceptions of what’s occurring and likely to occur in the Area of Responsibility," said Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Julien Greening, CSpOC deputy director.
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Space Moves: Anduril solidifies DoD-focused market strategy
"Anduril will use Apex’s buses for missions where Apex’s off-the-shelf approach and scalable manufacturing enable Anduril to rapidly deliver capability to customers; such as space situational awareness, proliferated LEO architectures, and missile warning and tracking," Anduril said in a press release today.
Commerce initiates civil space tracking operations with ‘beta’ users
"Transitioning the spaceflight safety SSA responsibilities to DoC, a civil agency, will improve support to these users and allow DoD to focus its resources on core defense missions,” John Hill, DoD's senior space policy officer, said.
Anduril moves its AI focus to the heavens, planning new space monitoring sats
The first launch in 2025 "will serve as a testbed for maturation of multiple Anduril and third party payloads which we will be announcing in the coming months," said Gokul Subramanian, Anduril's senior vice president of space and engineering.
Space Force working with SpaceX to closely watch falling Starlinks
The Space Force today circulated a fact sheet explaining what the service called a "proactive" and "collaborative" effort to keep tabs on Starlink re-entries as SpaceX begins to de-orbit some 100 early variants.
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Hide and seek: Despite sharper eyes on the heavens, sneaky sats can still find shadows
Hiding in the sun, launching mini satellites and radar absorbent materials are just some of the tricks nations are using to hide their military satellites in orbit.
Is Russia’s Cosmos 2553 satellite a test for a future orbital nuclear weapon?
Breaking Defense was given exclusive space tracking information showing the unique path of the Russian system, one experts say is the reason for US government warnings about space-based nuclear weapons.
SPACECOM wants $1.2B in FY25 for ‘unfunded priorities,’ most classified
The SPACECOM list includes almost $704 million for three unnamed classified programs, as well as $90 million to fund a trio of classified Navy electronic warfare-based "counterspace" capabilities.
US leads world in 2023 launches, sats on orbit: study
SpaceX 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.