Air Force Academy cadets will track space debris under an $800,000 grant that the institution received, reported the Colorado Springs Business Journal. The grant will allow the academy’s Center for Space Situational Awareness Research to develop a series of small, geographically dispersed telescopes, known as Falcon Telescopes, with which the cadets will follow thousands of smaller objects on orbit in addition to the 22,000 larger pieces that the Air Force already tracks. The academy is partnering with colleges in Colorado and Chile on the project. The grant will cover establishing a telescope in Chile that will offer cadets a view of space from the Earth’s southern hemisphere that is not currently available, according to the journal. (See also Crowded, Congested Space from the Air Force Magazine archives.)
A half-dozen pilots from one of the Air Force’s premier F-16 units, the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., have been awarded one of the service’s highest decorations for their role in Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.