The Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron has its eyes on the sky, tracking objects overhead and identifying possible collision risks so that satellite operators can adjust orbit and avoid disastrous run-ins.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman highlighted the danger posed by China’s anti-satellite (ASAT) missile capabilities as one of the Space Force’s biggest challenges as the young service nears its fourth birthday.
The Space Development Agency awarded contracts Aug. 21 to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin for 36 satellites each as part of Tranche 2 of its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a large constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit. The two deals, worth a collective $1.55 billion, are ...
The Space Force system for controlling a wide range of critical government satellites is growing old, inefficient and unable to keep up with rising demand, the Government Accountability Office warned in a new report. The Satellite Control Network (SCN) is made up of 19 antennas ...
As the Space Development Agency celebrates the successful first launch of its planned constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites, director Derek M. Tournear says he's no longer concerned about China or Russia trying to shoot U.S. satellites down. By deploying hundreds of satellites in SDA's new Proliferated ...
Building satellites is hard enough on Earth, but a group of companies just received a contract from the U.S. Space Force that could pave the way to building satellites in orbit. Announced March 20, the goal of the $1.6 million award is to demonstrate building ...
The nation’s smallest military branch would see one of the largest funding increases based on percentage under President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget request.
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 ...
The Air Force Research Laboratory will soon have the first operational oscillating heat pipes flying in space, marking the first operational application of fourth-generation spacecraft thermal control. The technology, which was previously tested aboard the secretive X-37B reusable spaceplane, is expected to be used in ...
The U.S. military plans to "be there" for NASA and commercial providers of “critical” space capabilities as activity picks up on and around the moon. Commander of the joint-service U.S. Space Command, Army Gen. James H. Dickinson, made the pledge during his speech at the ...
The Department of Defense is finalizing a new technical reference architecture (TRA) for satcom terminals it will buy—a highly detailed description of the engineering requirements for the devices, which maintain global two-way satellite communications for aircraft and other deployed forces. And for the first time, ...
A mockup of a 30-centimeter-long satellite on a shelf in the lobby of Blue Canyon Technologies may not look like much, but it represents a new approach to weather reconnaissance that could one day render one of the Air Force’s earliest missions obsolete. The three-unit, ...