Tag: Space Domain Awareness
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Space Force Eyes Up to Five Seed Satellites for a Future Cislunar Constellation
The notice follows what Space Force leaders describe as a significant shift in the U.S. military’s posture toward cislunar space. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, who oversees the service’s advanced programs acquisition portfolio, said in an Oct. 21 speech at AFCEA’s Space Industry Days conference that as recently as January he was told to avoid discussing…
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AFRL to Fund $30M Cislunar Prime Challenge With Awards Starting Next Spring
SpaceWERX is leading the program, soliciting commercial capabilities in three focus areas: space domain awareness, cislunar communications, and positioning, navigation, and timing. The Space Force defines cislunar as the region past GEO extending to the moon and beyond, spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometers and 1,728 times the volume of space contained within GEO. Those…
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Space Force Readies Two RFIs as Pentagon Elevates Cislunar Space to Warfighting Domain
The shift marks a sharp reversal within a single year. “At the beginning of the year there was no talk of cislunar, and basically I was told: ‘Don’t talk about cislunar and stop getting into it.’ At the end of the year here, and we’re not even at the end, I’ve got the secretary of…
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German Space Command Chief Warns Russian Satellites Are Shadowing Allied Spacecraft
The warning places a senior European military-space official on record describing active on-orbit shadowing by Russian assets, a direct counterspace concern. It also draws attention to how heavily Ukraine’s war effort depends on commercial satellite systems that were never designed to be contested military targets. Traut described Russian military satellites as shadowing allied spacecraft, a…
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Fisica Wins Space Force DARC Contract for UK Radar Site
DARC is building a global network of advanced ground-based sensors intended to enhance space domain awareness. The program began its first phase one year ago under a trilateral agreement. With construction now complete at the Australian site, the program is advancing to the UK location. Fisica, based in San Leandro, California, secured the contract through…
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Impulse Space Wins $28 Million Space Force Contract for LEO-Based GEO Surveillance Mission
Impulse Space has received a $28 million U.S. Space Force contract to provide a maneuverable Mira spacecraft for a space domain awareness mission scheduled to launch no earlier than 2029. The spacecraft will operate in low Earth orbit while carrying an optical sensor designed to track and characterize objects in geostationary orbit. A government-provided launch…
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Space Force Plans Fall Prototype to Fuse Commercial and Military Orbital Tracking Data
The U.S. Space Force plans to launch a prototype software environment later this fall that will automate the integration of commercial and military space-tracking data. Led by Mission Delta 2, the effort is intended to provide faster indications of new satellite deployments, debris clouds and potentially threatening activity without disrupting the service’s high-accuracy collision-avoidance systems.…
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U.S. Space Force Selects Lake Kickapoo, Texas, for Final DARC Radar Site
The U.S. Space Force selected a remote location near Lake Kickapoo in northern Texas on September 9 as the preferred site for the third Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability installation, completing the planned geographic footprint of a three-nation radar network designed to provide persistent surveillance of objects in geosynchronous orbit. DARC is a next-generation ground-based space…
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U.S. Space Command Conducts First Multi-Orbit Dynamic Satellite Maneuver Exercise
U.S. Space Command has completed its first exercise dedicated to dynamically maneuvering operational spacecraft across low Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit, testing how military satellites in multiple orbital regimes could be repositioned as part of a coordinated operation. The exercise used actual spacecraft rather than relying solely on simulations. U.S. Space Command…
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UK Launches £7.8 Billion Space Strategy Focused on Defence and Resilient Satellite Communications
The UK government launched a new national space strategy on September 8, bringing £7.8 billion in planned investment through 2030 under a single framework covering economic growth, defence and national security. The plan prioritises military space capabilities and calls for a resilient, integrated national satellite communications system to support government and defence operations. The strategy…