Arnold Engineering and Development Center in Tennessee is asking contractors to ponder how to create a Space Threat Assessment Testbed, a logical step as Air Force Space Command endeavors to aggressively protect US space assets. According to a request for information issued Thursday, the STAT facility would emulate “a complex natural and man-made space environment at various orbital conditions” and provide “three operationally realistic man-made threat sources” plus the ability to connect the satellite with a ground operations center. And, the RFI states up front that only contractors “with demonstrated experience” in satellite test capabilities need apply. The deadline is March 31.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
