According to a statement from SpaceDev, the Air Force Research Lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate has awarded the Poway, Calif.-based company a $1.25 million contract to design a nanosatellite that can “independently” provide an assessment of the local space environment around a host satellite. The tiny sat already has a big name—Autonomous Nanosatellite Guardian for Evaluating Local Space, or ANGELS for short. SpaceDev says they will be working with BAE Systems, Emergent, SAIC, Schafer, and Vacco to design and construct these sats “in a short timeframe and at a low cost.” The contract requires flight experimentation by 2009.
Navy CCA Program’s Shape Coming into Focus
Oct. 17, 2025
In announcing its Navy Collaborative Combat Aircraft contract, General Atomics has provided some clues as to where the service is heading with its version of an armed, autonomous fighter escort. It will likely be quite different from the Air Force version.
