Vivienne Machi, Aviation Week – The Defense Department is streamlining space-related foreign military sales (FMS) requests for which technical and security analysis has already been completed, reflecting Space Force leaders’ “allied by design” approach.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr., Jim Bridenstine and Sean O’Keefe for Orlando Sentinel / Co-signed by Steve Isakowitz, Frank Culberson and Dr. John Grunsfeld – “[I]t is our responsibility to ensure realistic and sensible in-space search and rescue capabilities are available.”
Stephen Clark, Aviation Week – Space Force officials expect to approve ULA’s Vulcan rocket for military missions without requiring another test flight, despite an unusual problem on the rocket’s second demonstration flight earlier this month.
Jeff Foust, SpaceNews – “Without consistent government demand, many U.S. commercial space firms that offer valuable defense applications may not survive,” said Sam Wilson, systems director at Aerospace’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy.
Jeff Foust, SpaceNews – Blue Origin carried out the first flight of a new model of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. The flight was the first for a new model of both the New Shepard capsule, called RSS Kármán Line, and the booster.
Jacqueline Feldscher, Payload – Focus areas for the next year include prioritization of sustainability in space, including how to handle debris on and around the Moon as the pace of commercial lunar missions is poised to pick up.
The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy (CSPS) published Space Agenda 2025 to provide objective insight into the opportunities and challenges ahead for the space sector: https://csps.aerospace.org/sa2025
Briana Sparacino, Payload – In an Aerospace Center for Space Policy & Strategy paper, Brian Weeden, a senior analyst, argues that the continued lack of regulatory modernization leads to: a lack of certainty, overly cumbersome regulations, or a lack of sufficient government oversight.
Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense – The new version of “DoD Directive 3100.10” — dated Oct. 15 and signed by DoD Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks — for the first time codifies into Pentagon policy the three primary missions for which Space Force Guardians must be organized, trained, and equipped to fulfill.
Sandra Erwin, SpaceNews – A new initiative, Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), would allow the military to tap into commercial space assets, such as satellites and communication systems, during crises or emergencies.
