The Biden administration’s plan came, in part, in response to a different congressional proposal about how to divvy up heavenly authorities, sources told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens“Commercial data, commercial processing is not classified. It does not matter that the DoD wishes it were,” said Barbara Golf, special advisor to Space Systems Command.
By Theresa HitchensThe COMSPOC study included a look at risks from unannounced rendezvous and proximity operations — such as those being routinely performed by the Russian “inspector” satellite Luch/Olymp that have raised hackles at the Defense Department — and the risks to US military satellites cause by mis-plotting the trajectories of adversary birds.
By Theresa HitchensThere is growing concern about what happens when different countries’ predictions of an on-orbit collision do not match, said Matt Hejduk, of The Aerospace Corporation. “A man with two watches never knows what time it is,” he quipped.
By Theresa Hitchens“As the world gets more complicated, and there are more and more [space situational awareness] providers, the issue of who pays will be one which continually gets battered around,” said Richard DalBello, the Office of Space Commerce.
By Theresa HitchensDoD is working with Commerce to provide expertise on how to crunch space observational data, said Travis Langster, DoD principal director for space policy.
By Theresa Hitchens“China is a major space player and will be a major space player. They are not participating in the global dialogue, and in global information sharing on SSA. That’s unsustainable,” said Richard DalBello, head of the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce.
By Theresa HitchensIndustry representatives meeting with Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves on Tuesday “stressed the need for [Commerce] to work quickly to field the new capabilities — ideally by buying and redistributing existing commercial products — in order to maintain leadership in the face of competing SSA offerings from the EU and China,” a Commerce official told Breaking Defense today.
By Theresa HitchensThere are a host of open questions bedeviling national and international policy- and law-makers as they struggle to get a better grip on both the explosion of commercial players with innovative ideas for space utilization and the growing military interest in space as a tool of, and venue for, war.
By Theresa HitchensKayhan Space is providing its baseline collision avoidance service, Pathfinder Essentials, for free “to keep space safe,” said company co-founder Araz Feyzi.
By Theresa Hitchens“We have an issue, as everyone here knows, with China where they’re just simply not sharing information. And we cannot safely operate in space if a major space participant isn’t actively engaged and sharing information in a way that enhances safety for all,” said Commerce’s Richard DalBello.
By Theresa HitchensThe Commerce Department doesn’t simply want to replicate what DoD does now in providing space situational awareness data to industry, but go beyond to provide “a technologically superior product,” said Richard DalBello, head of DoC’s Commercial Space Office.
By Theresa HitchensThe new rules framework is due to Vice President Kamala Harris by March 7, said National Space Council Director of Commercial Policy Diane Howard.
By Theresa Hitchens“We believe that space needs to be in a more sustainable state — that spaceflight safety is critical to connecting the world and making sure that we continue to have space as a portal of progress and knowledge. And that’s at risk today,” said Slingshot Aerospace co-founder Melanie Stricklan.
By Theresa Hitchens