Courtney Albon, Defense News – Sierra Space, L3Harris, Astranis, and Axient won study contracts in late September to draft early concepts for the Space Force’s Resilient GPS program, or R-GPS.
Analysis: Pentagon sends mixed signals on space innovation
Sandra Erwin, SpaceNews – Sam Wilson, a policy analyst at Aerospace, suggests that the Pentagon use an “anchor tenancy” strategy for PLEO (Proliferated Low Earth Orbit) contracts with commercial satellite services.
NASA Assessing Options For Faster, Cheaper Mars Sample Return
Irene Klotz, Aviation Week – NASA is reviewing 11 proposals to cut costs and speed up the return of samples collected by the ongoing Perseverance rover mission on Mars.
FCC Sets MegaConstellation Spectrum Rules
Jacqueline Feldscher and Tim Fernholz, Payload – The FCC’s new rule clarifies existing regulations, which give earlier entrants in the satellite broadband market an advantage.
Germany Approves Milsatcom Infrastructure Upgrades
Robert Wall, Aviation Week – Germany in July awarded Airbus a contract for new military communications satellites. The additional money will finance upgrading of the ground infrastructure, including command-and-control equipment.
Space Force’s new GPS satellites are running months behind schedule
Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg – The initial batch of GPS IIIF satellites are as much as eight to 11 months behind the desired delivery schedule, because contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. is having difficulty manufacturing some complex parts.
Opinion: The US needs to get real about maneuver warfare in space
In this op-ed for Breaking Defense, Christopher Stone, Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies, argues that the Space Force needs to transform from “a mere support service into the primary door kicking, maneuver force for the United States.”
NASA Begins Hand-off To Commercial Satellites
Tim Fernholz, Payload – NASA is replacing its 1980s-era Tracking and Data Relay System (TDRS) satellites by the 2030s, with a fleet of commercial sats purchased through the Commercial Services Project (CSP).
Facing Growing Threats, Space Industry Expands Its Cyber Warning Center
Shaun Waterman, Air and Space Forces Magazine – The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a U.S. nonprofit that helps commercial space operators share data about cyberattacks and other threats, is expanding to the U.K. and other allied countries.
The Downlink [Oct 31, 24] Space Money: Report – DoD At Risk of Losing New Commercial Space Suppliers And Capabilities
In this podcast, Laura Winter speaks with Sam Wilson, Director of Strategy and Program Support at Aerospace’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy.