This is SpaceX’s 13th dedicated rideshare mission to Sun-synchronous orbits (SSO). Aerospace Corporation’s AeroCube-18 will test hyperspectral imaging, nanotech payloads, and advanced solar cells over a five-year mission.

The Space Force has been working closely with the Air Force and Navy to learn from their experience developing a realistic training and testing environment for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — with an eye on one day creating a similar capability for the space domain.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the acting acquisition executive for the Space Force, directed program offices to assess how commercially developed satellites and sensors could either replace or augment the military’s existing fleet of Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites.

At the Air & Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium, Gen. Chance Saltzman said he wants more options to present to national leaders if an adversary threatens the U.S. These options include space-based and ground-based directed-energy weapons, radio frequency jamming capabilities, and kinetic weapons.

In light of an expected increase in the number of of military satellites, Space Rapid Capabilities Office is working to scale its Rapid Resilient Command and Control (R2C2) program. R2C2 is a cloud-based infrastructure program that provides tactical ground segment software for controlling dynamic satellites.

Charter Space, a CA-based space program management startup, partnered with five of the largest space insurers in the world, with the goal of increasing access to insurance across the space industry.

Kelly Hammett, director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (SRCO), said that “situational awareness indications and warning payloads” have been “collecting all kinds of very interesting data on the Chinese SOSI [Space Observation Surveillance and Identification System] network” since 2023.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, Space Force’s Vice Chief of Space Operations, said Golden Dome, a missile-defense initiative launched by President Donald Trump to protect the U.S., will require whole-of-government coordination across bureaucratic boundaries that is “on the magnitude of the Manhattan Project.”

At the Air & Space Forces Association’s Warfare Conference, U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said: “Domain control is the special province of war fighters, a unique responsibility that only military services hold. It is the thing that distinguishes the Navy from the Merchant Marine and the Air Force from Southwest Airlines.”

SSC (Space Systems Command) is performing incremental, consistent updates to ensure that FORGE (Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution) is delivered on time, to support the Space Force’s upcoming missile warning and missile-tracking constellations.