Aerospace’s principal engineer for space cybersecurity Brandon Bailey said that 10 commercial partners are tinkering with SpaceCOP, a software package Aerospace built that can detect and possibly repel hostile cyber activity onboard.

Aerospace America – AIAA hosted its inaugural ASCEND Classified Day at The Aerospace Corporation’s corporate headquarters in Chantilly, Va.

Aerospace America – At ASCEND 2026, Brig. Gen. Nick Hague, assistant deputy chief of staff for space operations, said there’s a need for more partnerships with the commercial space industry and academia. “We need your ideas. We need your technology. We need your speed.”

SpaceNews – The acting director of the Space Development Agency, Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo, has been appointed to a dual role overseeing both the agency and a new U.S. Space Force acquisition office responsible for missile-warning satellite procurements.

Kent Rominger brings decades of experience solving complex challenges across the space enterprise as a former vice president at Northrop Grumman and Orbital ATK, a NASA astronaut, and a U.S. Navy veteran. He has received the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

Air and Space Forces — “The Space Force plans to stand up a Mission Operations Center to manage the backbone of its hybrid commercial-government data transport constellation, the Space Data Network.”

Aerospace America — “AIAA’s inaugural ASCEND 2026 Classified Day, planned for Monday, 18 May at The Aerospace Corporation’s corporate headquarters in Chantilly, VA, comes at a time of intense transformation in the U.S. space community.”

The Journal of Space Commerce – The Aerospace Corporation in Colorado Springs, CO, is hosting a tabletop exercise, “Campaigning with Commercial Partners,” in June 2026. Operators and prime contractors who participate will shape the government’s expectations for what a cybersecurity-ready commercial partner looks like.

Breaking Defense – The Space Rapid Capabilities Office (Space RCO) and the U.S. Space Force’s innovation arm, SpaceWERX, awarded three small companies contracts worth $3 million each, to develop new radar warning receivers for future highly maneuverable satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit.

SpaceNews — A manufacturing issue involving a European company, Thales Alenia Space, resulted in corrosion in modules produced for both the lunar Gateway and Axiom Space’s commercial space station.