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• Sandra Erwin
The U.S. Space Force is investing $50 million in a startup developing a new method to dispatch small spacecraft from a larger vehicle in orbit. The effort could introduce another approach to moving and deploying satellites after launch, with potential implications for future military space operations.
Space Defense & Militarization
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The U.S. Space Force is investing $50 million in a startup developing a new method to dispatch small spacecraft from a larger vehicle in orbit. The effort could introduce another approach to moving and deploying satellites after launch, with potential implications for future military space operations.
A U.S. military program has demonstrated an aircraft navigation system that uses Earth’s magnetic field rather than GPS signals or satellites. The technology could reduce military reliance on vulnerable space-based positioning infrastructure while preserving highly accurate navigation in contested or degraded environments.
A Rocket Lab spacecraft carrying an optical payload developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory tracked another satellite during a U.S. Space Force “cat-and-mouse” exercise. The demonstration highlights efforts to improve space-domain awareness and the ability to monitor maneuvering objects in orbit.
The U.S. Space Force is starting work on a new ground control architecture for the future GPS constellation, using lessons from the $6.27 billion OCX program. The Pentagon canceled OCX earlier this year after 15 years of development, resetting a critical element of GPS modernization.
Chinese reconnaissance satellite Yaogan-50 (02), launched into an unusual retrograde orbit earlier this year, has apparently fragmented, creating a field of orbital debris. The event adds a new object and debris-generation incident to an increasingly complex space environment, although the cause and full extent of the breakup remain unclear.
High activity
The U.S. does not have enough engineers, technicians and assemblers to rapidly rebuild military satellites and other space assets destroyed in a conflict with China or Russia, according to a RAND report, highlighting a workforce constraint in national space resilience.
The U.S. Army’s desert trial of Starlink is highlighting both the potential and limits of commercial satellite technology for military use. Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor said the service is examining whether commercial options can meet requirements before committing to bespoke systems costing as much as four times more.
President Donald Trump is seeking billions in private-sector investment for the Golden Dome missile-defense vision, with SpaceX and Anduril among the companies wagering on technologies that remain unproven. The effort would link commercial aerospace and defense ambitions to a major national-security initiative.
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