Tag: U.S. Space Force
-
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…
-
Space Force Sets 2027 Flights for Two Commercial Satellite Servicing Demonstrations
The planned missions represent a transition in how the Department of Defense approaches space domain awareness, mobility, and logistics. Historically, military and intelligence satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit were treated as single-use, non-serviceable assets, built with finite station-keeping propellant reserves that fixed their operational lifespans regardless of payload health. Under SSC’s Space Mobility and Logistics…
-
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…
-
Viasat Wins First $42 Million Order Under $307 Million Marine Corps SATCOM Contract
Viasat has received an initial $42 million task order to provide fully managed global satellite communications to the U.S. Marine Corps under a seven-year contract with a ceiling of $307 million. The U.S. Space Force Commercial Satellite Communications Office awarded the Marine Enterprise Commercial Satcom Satellite Services contract, known as MECS2, through Viasat subsidiary Inmarsat…
-
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.…
-
Sedaro Wins Up to $45 Million to Expand Space Force Mission Analysis Platform
Space software company Sedaro has secured an award valued at up to $45 million to expand a mission analysis platform that allows the U.S. Space Force to evaluate how satellites, sensors, communications networks and other capabilities perform together. The commitment represents a substantial investment in a software-focused space contractor and reinforces the service’s effort to…
-
U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Says Military Must Prepare for Contested Cislunar Space
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on September 16, 2026, that U.S. forces must prepare to operate in contested environments extending to cislunar space. Speaking at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, he described the modern battlefield as spanning “from the…
-
US Space Force Confirms Operation of On-Orbit Weapons, Emphasizes Deterrence
The U.S. Space Force operates weapons in orbit to defend American and allied forces against space-enabled attacks, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess said during a September 15 address at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. The unusually direct acknowledgment broadens the publicly confirmed scope…
-
US Space Force Operating On-Orbit Space Control Weapons, Air Force Secretary Says
The U.S. Space Force is operating on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending American and allied forces from hostile action, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said September 14 during the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. The disclosure is the Pentagon’s most explicit public acknowledgment that…
-
SpaceX Sets USSF-259 Launch, Second Classified Space Force Mission in Six Days
SpaceX is preparing to launch the classified USSF-259 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on September 16, marking the company’s second national security flight from the base in six days. A Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off from Space Launch Complex 4 East during a four-hour window…