The Space Development Agency awarded contracts for the final 20 satellites in the second tranche of its proliferated low-Earth orbit constellation on Aug. 16, setting the stage for hundreds of satellites to launch in the next three years or so.
When a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 9, it carried to orbit a historic collaboration between the Space Force and a foreign country—two satellites procured by Space Norway hosting USSF payloads for Arctic communications.
Medium-Earth orbit—the range of space 2,000 to 35,786 kilometers above the surface mostly known as the home of GPS satellites and not much else—has been getting more and more attention from the Space Force in recent years. In its latest move, the service is eyeing ...
The Space Force is working on a “hybrid” satellite communications terminal that can use multiple frequencies to connect warfighters with military and commercial constellations alike across orbits. But key lawmakers are concerned the effort is too focused on just the Department of the Air Force and ...
The Space Force is ready to integrate commercial satellites and systems into a broad range of missions, starting with satellite communications and space domain awareness, according to the service’s newly released Commercial Space Strategy. The strategy, unveiled April 10 after months of waiting, reaffirms what the Pentagon’s ...
News last fall that SpaceX owner and CEO Elon Musk restricted the Ukrainian military’s use of his Starlink satellite broadband service to stymie an attack on Russian forces highlighted the extraordinary power wielded in that war by a single business owner with some outlandish ideas. But ...
The Space Force budget could be headed for its first ever dip in fiscal year 2025, as the service unveiled a $29.4 billion request March 11, a 2 percent drop compared to its 2024 budget request. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and other leaders highlighted ...
When it comes to the Defense Department’s plans for satellite communications, the Pentagon will need all different kinds of space architectures, two top Pentagon officials said during a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies webcast Jan. 7. David Voss, director of the Spectrum Warfare Center of ...
A pair of Pentagon officials working on joint all-domain command and control say an effort is needed to address “a lack of synchronization” on the project across the services—and to potentially expand cooperation. One of the major challenges to interoperability, a policy paper contends, has ...
Space Operations Command welcomed its first six Army Soldiers at a transfer ceremony Oct. 1 at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., amid concerns that units slated for transfer to the Space Force will be held up until Congress passes a fiscal 2022 defense budget. Space ...
The Department of Defense is finalizing a new technical reference architecture (TRA) for satcom terminals it will buy—a highly detailed description of the engineering requirements for the devices, which maintain global two-way satellite communications for aircraft and other deployed forces. And for the first time, ...
Through its first year of existence, the U.S. Space Force was focused on developing the overall structure by which the entirely new service would be organized. Now, as it heads into Year 2, the force will seek to “actually operationalize” that new structure, Col. Matthew ...
