It will take a few extra months for the Space Development Agency’s “Tranche 0”—the initial batch of satellites in SDA’s planned constellation in low-Earth orbit—to lift off, as the agency has delayed two planned launches. The first launch for Tranche 0, which will also be the ...
The Space Development Agency’s warfighter council will set requirements in March for the second large batch of satellites to join the Transport Layer of the agency’s National Defense Space Architecture, a planned constellation in low Earth orbit. A solicitation will then go out in the ...
Some of the satellites that will form the planned “backbone” of joint all-domain command and control may include “translation” payloads to let other satellites feed their data into the Pentagon’s massive mesh network, the head of the Space Development Agency said Oct. 25. SDA is ...
Having become a part of the Space Force this month, the Space Development Agency expects little disruption—so to speak—to getting its initial constellation into orbit in time for military exercises next summer, said SDA director Derek Tournear. He anticipated no personnel changes from the transition. ...
As the Space Development Agency looks to capitalize on innovation from the fast-expanding commercial space market, the agency's leaders have said they want to constantly have open competitions for the tranches of new satellites projected for every two years. But the SDA’s approach isn’t just increasing ...
The Space Development Agency awarded L3Harris and Northrop Grumman Strategic Space Systems contracts to build Tranche 1 of the Tracking Layer for its planned National Defense Space Architecture, a multipurpose defense constellation. Each company will build 14 low-Earth-orbit satellites to detect and track the infrared ...
The Space Development Agency is looking to buy 10 satellites capable of carrying experimental payloads to integrate into its National Defense Space Architecture. The planned new satellites are being referred to as the National Defense Space Architecture Experimental Testbed, or NExT, and will “demonstrate warfighter ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made missile warning and tracking a priority of his tenure, and agencies across the Pentagon are working on a number of efforts to handle that key mission from space. But instead of relying on a less coordinated approach, one ...
The Space Force could be in for a big budget boost in fiscal 2023 if the Biden administration’s request for a 36 percent bump has anything to do with it. The Space Force's $24.5 billion budget request for 2023 is a $6.5 billion increase over ...
The Space Development Agency has awarded contracts for the 126 satellites that will make up its Tranche 1 Transport Layer, splitting the deal between Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and York Space Systems, it announced Feb. 28. All told, the three contracts for 42 satellites each ...
While the Air Force is in the midst of a push to modernize its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms, it’s the Space Force that could wind up taking on more ISR missions in the years ahead, Undersecretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones hinted ...