n today’s rapidly evolving security landscape, the importance of military space capabilities cannot be overstated. Through satellite-based communication, precise navigation, real-time intelligence and surveillance, and other capabilities, space operations are woven into the fabric of modern military operations.
Greece became the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords outlining best practices for sustainable space exploration Feb. 9. In a ceremony at the U.S. State Department, Giorgos Gerapetritis, Greece’s foreign minister, formally signed the Accords. The signing took place as part of a U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue meeting.
The first of three reports on digital twin technologies commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service has been published.
Small “backpacks” that can attach to existing spacecraft in orbit may help out-of-fuel satellites live a while longer. The U.S. Space Force is eyeing a number of options to extend the life of satellites that have run out of fuel.
Firefly Aerospace plans to make the responsive launch operations it demonstrated for the U.S. Space Force last year the norm for upcoming launches of its Alpha rocket. Firefly launched the Victus Nox mission for the Space Force Sept. 14, successfully placing a satellite built by Millennium Space into orbit. The launch took place 27 hours after the Space Force gave Firefly formal notice to carry out the launch.
Last September, the Space Force conducted a record-breaking demonstration showcasing its ability to buy, build, launch and operate a satellite on rapid timelines. The Victus Nox mission — Latin for “conquer the night” — lifted off on Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket within 27 hours of initial launch orders.
What keeps NASA’s chief economist up at night? Figuring out how to send consistent demand signals to industry in a constrained budget environment. There’s a lot on the space agency’s aspirational to-do list, and it will need industry’s help to get there, but NASA’s budget is expected to stay flat at best under the budget deal lawmakers reached last year.
It’s not every day that the FCC proposes an entirely new rule section to address an emerging technology. But it may be a signal of the technology’s potential when it does. Such is the case for ISAM — or in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing.
“At this time, it would be counterproductive to initiate additional studies of the lower 3GHz Band,” members of Congress wrote in a letter to the White House. A trio of lawmakers from the Senate Armed Services Committee have written a letter to President Joe Biden asking the administration to incorporate more insights from the Pentagon as it begins to implement the National Spectrum Strategy.
The space industry need to take a broader examination of issues related to space sustainability that go beyond preventing the growth of space debris, one official says.
