Boeing announced that it has delivered two tiny experimental weather satellites to the Air Force that will help assess the value of using such mini satellites in military space operations. Each Space Environmental NanoSat Experiment, or SENSE, satellite weighs less than nine pounds and is no larger in volume than an average loaf of bread, according to the company’s Dec. 18 release. They are scheduled to go into space on the ORS-3 mission next summer. Once settled on orbit, they will begin collecting and transmitting weather data to help with weather prediction and assessment, states the release. “We anticipate these nanosatellites will play a significant role as affordable and resilient assets in future Air Force space architectures,” said Col. Scott Beidleman, director for development and planning at the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles, AFB, Calif. “The SENSE nanosats offer customers an affordable, operationally robust option to conduct military missions,” said Bruce Chesley, Boeing’s director of advanced space and intelligence systems. (See also Coming Down the Pike.)
The nation needs a better-coordinated policy for dealing with unmanned aerial systems that threaten domestic bases, Air Force vice chief of staff Gen. James C. Slife told a panel of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He and Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante co-chair a panel looking at counter-UAS…