Sandra Erwin, SpaceNews – At the AFCEA-INSA Intelligence and National Security Summit, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein highlighted the Space Force’s position as the smallest service with the largest area of responsibility, at a time when the complexities of space security demand a collaborative, global approach.
Air and Space Forces Magazine – NATO and satellite imagery firm Planet Labs have signed a contract for a “virtual” constellation of surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance space assets—the latest sign of NATO’s growing reliance on commercial space capabilities.
Aria Alamalhodaei, TechCrunch – As the global appetite for orbital launches continues to grow, the competition among new and old space companies to build bigger and better launch vehicles is firing up, including: ULA’s Vulcan, ESA’s Ariane 6, and Relativity Space’s Terran R.
Rick Neale, Florida Today – The upper stage of China’s Long March 6A rocket broke apart in orbit, generating a dangerous debris cloud of 500-700 or more fragments.
Jeff Foust, SpaceNews – A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could upend efforts by the FCC to enforce more stringent orbital debris regulations. No company has publicly expressed interested in taking the FCC to court to overturn orbital debris regulations.
Courtney Albon, DefenseNews – A new report from the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board calls on the Space Force to integrate commercial space technology, planning, and procurement wherever possible.
Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense – Mick Gleason, a national security senior projects engineer at Aerospace and a retired US Air Force colonel, published a new study called “Charting A Path Through The Space Arms Control Verification Challenge.”
The Consortium for Space Mobility and In-space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) Capabilities (COSMIC) is launching an annual student challenge to design and demonstrate novel capabilities in space — COSMIC Capstone Challenge (C3).
Jeff Foust, SpaceNews – The Dark and Quiet Skies Act of 2024 would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create a “center of excellence” devoted to mitigating light and radio-frequency interference by satellites on astronomical observations.
Audrey Decker, Defense One – At the NDIA Emerging Technologies for Defense conference, Frank Calvelli, Space Force’s chief buyer, said adding autonomy to its satellites could reduce reliance on vulnerable ground-based control stations.
