Government/Military

U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on Aug. 24 that he has a “short list” of potential nominees for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Biden to consider as potential heads of space acquisition, as the authority for space acquisition shifts from the Air Force acquisition shop (SAF/AQ) to a reconfigured space acquisition and...

NASA’s new Administrator Bill Nelson spoke at the Space Symposium on Tuesday, emphasizing the agency’s focus on using space to impact Earth, particularly to fight climate change.  “NASA’s value is not limited to space,” Nelson said. “Think about NASA’s work to stop wildfires and address our changing climate. Over the past week, a thick plume...

The Air Force has traditionally handled the lion’s share of U.S. military space assets and operations. But costs for major programs ballooned over the years, and the United States has found itself in a resumed Cold War in space with adversaries like China and Russia. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and eventually policymakers in the White...

Maxar Technologies has been awarded a five-year contract worth up to $26.4 million by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to continue supporting its open mapping platform.  Under the agreement announced Thursday, Maxar will continue to provide engineering, software development and geospatial tradecraft in support of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence Open Mapping Enclave...

Hughes Network Systems has been awarded one of several prime positions on a U.S. Air Force contract to support its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). Hughes announced Tuesday that it will offer flexible satellite communications solutions for ABMS, which is part of the broader Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) effort.  According to the...

The U.S. Space Force has awarded the first on ramp of the Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 to three emerging smallsat launch providers: ABL Space Systems, Astra Space, and Relativity Space. The Rocket Systems Launch Program Office, part of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Launch Enterprise announced the award on Monday.  This is an...

Space is likely heading toward more hybrid, interoperable architectures, the deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command said Monday at the Small Satellite Conference.  Just like how terrestrial devices connect to a universal internet, Lt. Gen. John Shaw spoke during a Monday keynote of his vision of the future in which satellites connect to a...

Another Canadian province is investing into Telesat’s Lightspeed network. The Ontario government announced Friday that it is investing $109 million Canadian dollars ($87 million) for dedicated capacity on the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) network.  Under the agreement, Ontario will have dedicated access to 40 gigabits of broadband capacity on Lightspeed at reduced rates for local service...

The Canadian Coast Guard has adopted Iridium Communications‘ Certus connectivity platform on dozens of new vessels and icebreakers for crew member internet and safety monitoring services, the operator announced Thursday. The Canadian Coast Guard procured the Iridium services through the operator’s re-seller partner MetOcean Telematics. Iridium Certus utilizes Thales VesseLINK 700 terminals on its vessels,...

The government of Greece is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build what is describing as “a vibrant, sustainable, competitive, and innovative space hub in Greece as a key part of the country’s digital transformation goals,” according to an Amazon announcement posted Wednesday. Greece’s Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance and its Ministry of Development...