{"id":17338,"date":"2022-11-03T01:54:44","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T17:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/microsoft-and-amazon-take-on-new-roles-in-pentagons-space-communication-plans\/"},"modified":"2022-11-03T01:54:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T17:54:44","slug":"microsoft-and-amazon-take-on-new-roles-in-pentagons-space-communication-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/microsoft-and-amazon-take-on-new-roles-in-pentagons-space-communication-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft and Amazon take on new roles in Pentagon\u2019s space communication plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"403\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-azure2-630x403.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-733720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-azure2-630x403.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-azure2-1260x807.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-azure2-768x492.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-azure2.jpg 1312w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>The Pentagon is working with commercial ventures to upgrade space-based networks. (Microsoft Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Microsoft Azure Space, Amazon Web Services and Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper satellite network are now among the Pentagon\u2019s partners in a campaign to upgrade space- and ground-based communications infrastructure for national security purposes.<\/p>\n<p>The Defense Innovation Unit has awarded contracts to those three Seattle-area business units \u2014 plus SpiderOak Mission Systems, a space cybersecurity venture based in Washington, D.C. \u2014 in the second phase of the Hybrid Space Architecture project. They join four awardees from the project\u2019s first phase: Aalyria, Anduril, Atlas and Enveil.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHybrid Space Architecture ventures into an experimental communications vision that connects users from around the globe using modern and future communications,\u201d Steve Butow, director of DIU\u2019s space portfolio, said today in a news release. \u201cThe additional four awards from this solicitation provide new capabilities while seamlessly integrating into this dynamic and innovative collective of information and networking infrastructure that will provide resilient communications, and future technologies access, worldwide and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The focus of the Phase I effort was to create a \u201cHybrid Gateway Satellite\u201d to prove out next-generation networking technologies. Phase II is aimed at expanding the operational network to link ground-based cloud and internet services with commercial satellite constellations to facilitate secure communications via a hybrid public-private network.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time for the internet to move off-planet,\u201d said Rogan Shimmin, DIU\u2019s program manager for Hybrid Space Architecture.<\/p>\n<p>DIU pointed to the war in Ukraine and its regional impact as a case study. \u201cA present-day use case is in Eastern Europe, where armies currently in conflict rely on multiple cloud servers and various commercial communication terminals both on the ground and in space to move data to and from the battlefield,\u201d DIU said in its news release.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u2018Starlink is the difference\u2019: Internet connection gives Ukraine edge in drone war \u2022 FRANCE 24\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UjcW15EhSAk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Collaborators in the effort include the U.S. Space Force, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC), the Air Force Research Laboratory\u2019s Space Vehicles Directorate and the Space Force\u2019s Space Systems Command.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Zander, Microsoft\u2019s executive vice president for strategic missions and technologies, said the Hybrid Space Architecture would be built in part upon Microsoft Azure, and would leverage the capabilities of Azure Space solutions, including&nbsp;Azure Orbital Cloud Access and Azure Orbital Ground Station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCombined, these capabilities bring together key functions of the HSA, including remote sensing, multi-path communications and cloud computing,\u201d Zander said in a blog posting.<\/p>\n<p>The architecture would also draw upon cloud and communication capabilities provided by Amazon Web Services. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re going to compete in the future national security environment, we have to be able to fuse air, land, space and sea,\u201d Clint Crosier, AWS\u2019 director of aerospace and satellite solutions, told GeekWire last year. \u201cAnd we have to provide data from every sensor to every shooter and every command post simultaneously in real time, all over the world. The only way you can execute that is by leveraging [resources] such as the global infrastructure of AWS cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper hasn\u2019t yet launched any satellites for its planned broadband constellation, but once that network is operational, it\u2019s expected to serve as a space-based complement to AWS.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellite constellation is already in operation and being used for communications on an experimental basis by the U.S. military \u2014 and by Ukraine\u2019s armed forces. What\u2019s more, SpaceX is one of Microsoft\u2019s key partners for its Azure Space offerings.<\/p>\n<p>SpiderOak Mission Systems said it would help the Pentagon demonstrate end-to-end network security using the company\u2019s OrbitSecure zero-trust data protocol. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWarfighters have identified cyber-attacks as the \u2018soft underbelly\u2018 of the satellites on which we depend for our defense and modern life,\u201d John Moberly, SpiderOak\u2019s senior vice president for space, said in a news release. \u201cWe are thrilled to be selected by DIU and SWAC and partnered with York Space Systems to secure this mission, and we are very much looking forward to working with the other companies selected to support the entire Hybrid Space Architecture into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 1:30 p.m. PT Nov. 4:<\/strong> In a blog posting, Amazon Web Services says DIU\u2019s contract is aimed at supporting efforts \u201cto better understand the role commercial cloud services and infrastructure could play in the development of a hybrid space architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first phase of DIU\u2019s separate contract with Project Kuiper calls for modeling the key components of a \u201chybrid data transport architecture that could support various mission scenarios and needs, including on-demand weather data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Phase 2 of the Project Kuiper contract \u201cwill leverage the concepts and requirements developed in Phase 1 to perform hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop testing.\u201d Project Kuiper could also \u201ccontribute to potential mission-relevant technology demonstrations that would use on-orbit satellites and ground-based hardware and software,\u201d according to the blog posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pentagon is working with commercial ventures to upgrade space-based networks. (Microsoft Illustration) Microsoft Azure Space, Amazon Web Services and Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper satellite network are now among the Pentagon\u2019s partners in a campaign to upgrade space- and ground-based communications infrastructure for national security purposes. The Defense Innovation Unit has awarded contracts to those three [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4455,4526,4578,4579,497,4460,4017,4610,439,962],"class_list":["post-17338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-amazon-web-services","tag-aws","tag-azure-orbital","tag-azure-space","tag-cloud-computing","tag-diux","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-azure","tag-military","tag-project-kuiper"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}