SDA will decide next March whether the UHF- and SHF-band payloads being tested by T1DES should be integrated into its next iteration of Transport Layer data relay satellites.
By Theresa HitchensAI can make logistics data as valuable as intelligence or operational data for mission success
Valuable intelligence insights can be gleaned from logistics or flight-test data when artificial intelligence or machine learning is applied.
Mandrake 2’s next trick, after demonstrating optical intersatellite links, will be using lasers for space-to-ground communications.
By Theresa Hitchens
SpaceLink intends to put four data relay satellites in Medium Earth Orbit, to complement and backup the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer.
By Theresa Hitchens
The awards are a first step in the Space Force’s plan, which will move the Defense Department away from today’s reliance on a a handful of large expensive satellites in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) and highly elliptical polar orbits, SDA Director Derek Tournear said.
By Theresa Hitchens Four Pentagon offices are working together on an ambitious hybrid architecture that spans orbits as well as classification levels, officials told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens For Northrop, Airbus U.S. is supplying a larger, higher power version of its commercial ARROW bus, being built at its joint production facility with OneWeb in Florida.
By Theresa Hitchens The prototype, called Space End Crypto Unit (ECU), is being developed in tandem electronics firm Aeronix, with planned delivery in 2024.
By Theresa Hitchens
How to ensure readiness of next-generation defense technology: Solving the issue of massive heat.
High-performance systems generate tremendous amounts of heat that can compromise missions and make high-tech systems less effective in tactical environments. But there is a solution to this modern-age challenge.
“I’m focusing on laser communication terminals because I think that’s the strongest candidate to build in the US,” Rob Geckle, CEO of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens The defense prime also for the first time revealed that its partners in developing the secure OISL system: laser communications firm Mynaric and space avionics company Innoflight.
By Theresa Hitchens
Under the $324.5 million contract, the team will develop the “ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture.”
By Theresa Hitchens
“A lot of people when they think of space-based capabilities, they always forget the ground segment,” Mike Dean, the Pentagon’s top SATCOM official, said.
By Theresa Hitchens
A decision about whether to go forward this year with Tracking Layer Tranche 1 or wait until fiscal 2023 funds are available could happen “within the next few weeks,” said SDA Director Derek Tournear.
By Theresa Hitchens
Chuck Beames, York’s executive chair, told Breaking Defense that once up and running, the Tranche 1 constellation “will be used in direct support” of the Combatant Commands.
By Theresa Hitchens On-board, or “edge,” processing is key to SDA’s plans to develop a satellite network that can gather data from multiple sensors on the ground, at sea and in space to provide operators with precise, near-real-time targeting information.
By Theresa Hitchens
