The Air Force Research Lab has contracted with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab to begin initial design work on the Lightweight Electro-Optical Space Sensor. AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., will manage the LEOSS program, which, an APL news release, says will serve as a pathfinder for future DOD geosynchronous space situational awareness sensors. APL is to present system requirements in three months, followed by a proposed design in five months.
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to fly military payloads for the Space Force.
