The Space Force’s recent contract to Muon Space to repurpose their commercial weather satellites for military use will inform a broader “data-as-a-service” strategy for its space-based environmental monitoring mission.
Space Force
The Space Development Agency added 21 satellites to its nascent data transport network in an Oct. 15 launch, the second mission in a 10-month campaign to field 154 operational spacecraft.
A new Space Force partnership with Blue Origin to expand payload processing capacity at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., will allow the launch range to support as many as 16 more missions per year.
The Space Force wants access to a fleet of small, maneuverable commercial satellites that can provide a range of services from geosynchronous orbit, chiefly satellite communications.
Space Force leaders are advocating for reforms to the Pentagon’s foreign military sales process to better handle a surge in requests from international partners to buy U.S.-made military space systems.
Firefly Aerospace, the small launch company that helped the Space Force send a satellite into orbit on a record-fast timeline, plans to acquire software and data company SciTec in an $855 million deal that will further its reach in the defense market.
The Space Force issued contracts to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance worth more than $1 billion to launch military space missions starting in fiscal 2027.
Industry proposals were initially due Oct. 10, but after a flurry of responses, the agency extended the deadline to Oct. 16. MDA received more than 1,500 questions from companies over the last three weeks, it said in an Oct. 2 memo.
Built by L3Harris, the Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System, or ATLAS, provides foundational analysis and data processing capabilities to allow the service to transition away from its 1970s-era C2 architecture.
The concept is comparable to the Air Force’s practice of using aggressor or “red air” platforms to train pilots; in this case, an operator acting as the enemy would be operating a live training asset.
The Space Force expects to wrap up a detailed analysis this year of its “objective force,” a forward-looking vision for what platforms, support structures, and manpower the service thinks it will need over the next 15 years.
As part of an effort to better hone space acquisition expertise, the Space Force is launching a 10-week initial qualification training course for new acquisition officers. The first-of-its-kind course offers new procurement officers a deep-dive into the intricacies of program management, contracting, and space system ...
