A development version of USAF’s Global Hawk UAV takes off from Edwards AFB, Calif., flies 22-hour, 8,600-mile mission, nonstop and unrefueled, to a precision landing near Adelaide, Australia.
The long-standing method for communicating data down from space via radio frequencies has the potential to create deadly data bottlenecks that could slow and stymie future operations, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The report makes the case for combining RF with optical communications…