The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced a new project called C-SCAN that seeks to develop a small-sized component that would help missiles and other military hardware accurately navigate in environments where the Global Positioning System signal is denied. The Chip-Scale Combinational Atomic Navigator is envisioned as an atomic inertial sensor to measure orientation when GPS isn’t available. “Platforms such as missiles rely on GPS for a variety of information,” explained Andrei Shkel, DARPA program manager. “When GPS is not available, gyroscopes provide orientation, accelerometers provide position, and oscillators provide timing. The new C-SCAN effort focuses on replacing bulky gyroscopes with a new inertial measurement unit that is smaller, less expensive due to foundry fabrication, and yields better performance.” Before C-SCAN is built, DARPA said more research is needed in areas like miniaturization. C-SCAN supports the agency’s Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing program.
The Space Force is planning improvements at its launch ranges to better accommodate the logistics and infrastructure demands that come with the launch industry’s shift toward reusable rockets, according to the commanders of the service’s two launch deltas.
