Traditionally, DoD and the Intelligence Community — as well as some US allies — have been leery about revealing the position of US national security satellites, because they wish to conceal their activities and characteristics.
By Theresa HitchensGray Eagle is the low-cost, low-risk answer to Army modernization
Gray Eagle STOL and Gray Eagle 25M are the best options for Army aviation as it assesses where to move from its current inflection point.
“I’m happy to announce that with our partners at the DoD, we’ve signed a memorandum of understanding of agreement that will drive our mutual work,” Don Graves, Commerce deputy director, told the second public meeting of the National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris.
By Theresa Hitchens The “National Orbital Debris Implementation Plan” issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy assigns DoD the lead for some 17 tasks.
By Theresa Hitchens
The Office of Space Commerce, in part, is trying to define the scope of what “basic” services it will provide for free, and what else it might do for a fee.
By Theresa Hitchens
The $87 million in funding for the Commerce office is a step in the direction of implementing the long-stalled plan to transfer authority for tracking non-military spacecraft to a civil agency.
By Theresa Hitchens The MoA will be followed by a set of annexes that include how the Defense Department will share funds, personnel and/or technology to help the Office of Space Commerce stand up a civil structure for space situational awareness (SSA).
By Theresa Hitchens
The open meeting at times resembled the TV comedy Seinfeld’s Festivus celebration’s “airing of grievances,” but there was widespread accord on a number of recommendations.
By Theresa Hitchens
A major overhaul is coming in software for missile warning
Space Systems Command’s FORGE program is the first, major missile-warning software modernization effort in 20 years.
“Right now we’re on track to have a major collision in Low Earth Orbit roughly every 10 years. And that problem is only getting worse and worse,” said AGI CEO Paul Graziani.
By Theresa Hitchens
“The DoD system is not scalable to meet the demands of a growing number of objects in space and to deal with an increasing number of space operators,” the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) report says.
By Theresa Hitchens
“This is a full-on disaster,” said one senior industry executive close to the effort. “It means no change from the status quo, which will ultimately harm US leadership in space.”
By Theresa Hitchens Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and debris mitigation can be seen as just “another high-end data analytics problem,” says Kevin O’Connell, of the Commerce Department.
By Theresa Hitchens
House appropriators rejected Trump’s plan to put satellite regulation under the Commerce Department and chide Secretary Wilbur Ross for his refusal to testify on the 2020 budget request.
By Theresa Hitchens
Industry officials say there remain strong pockets of resistance to any new regulations, especially among aggressive space startups.
By Theresa Hitchens
A battle has been underway for several years now over who will become the FAA of space and how they will do the job. Some wanted the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Tranportation, which boasts the great acronym, FAST. Some wanted NOAA or NASA. Most did not want the Air Force, which has had a…
By Michael Sinclair