Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, hosts Lisa Costa, Space Force chief technology and innovation officer; Nicholas Bucci, vice president, Defense Systems and Technologies, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems; and Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, Strategic ...
The Space Force’s second-in-command told Air Force Academy cadets attending a leadership conference that the U.S. will need machines to make decisions that kill—and that confronting the inherent ethical dilemmas “can’t wait.” The weapons' inevitability comes down to “the speed of war—how quickly things are ...
The Defense Innovation Unit and its partnering Defense Department organizations transitioned six projects to programs of record in 2021, awarding contracts to eight companies in categories that ranged from assessing cyber threats to launching rocket payloads. 
China’s August launch of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circumnavigated the globe before reentry demonstrates the need for innovative solutions to spotting and tracking such threats. Unlike conventional intercontinental ballistic missiles, which follow a predictable ballistic arc, China’s hypersonic glide vehicle circled the world at ...
Leaders of the Space Force foresee the service continuing to become more “lethal” in its third year, inventing new tactical scenarios while maturing its organizational charts and carving out roles for companies, universities, and other of the world’s militaries.
The Space Force's second-ever Hack-a-Sat competition challenged hackers to find vulnerabilities in earthbound satellite hardware, drawing eight hacker teams to vie for tens of thousands of dollars in cash. But while last year’s inaugural competition proved inspirational, this year's ended amid complaints by participants, who said ...
Small businesses teaming up with nonprofit research institutions have a head start at proposing concepts for mitigating orbital debris and other aspects of on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing. SpaceWERX director Lt. Col. Walter McMillan said SpaceWERX consulted fellow government entities, academic institutions, startups, small businesses, ...