| |  | National security insights for space professionals. Delivered Tuesdays. | | In this week's edition: • Highlights from Space Symposium • Head of Space Systems Command lays out vision • 'Industry Day' event to focus on weather data from space
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up for free here | | | | Today's highlights: |  | The 39th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs last week served as the backdrop for a number of important announcements from national security space leaders.
The top headline: The Space Force unveiled its new Commercial Space Strategy, which aims to leverage the rapid innovation and capabilities of the private space industry. As Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, put it: "The Space Force must harness the benefits for technological innovation and emerging capabilities if we are going to be able to outcompete our competitors."
Elsewhere at the symposium: Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, announced plans to expand international collaboration. He said USSPACECOM is inviting Germany, France and New Zealand to join Operation Olympic Defender, a U.S.-led initiative to jointly strengthen space defenses and deter hostility. The U.K., Australia and Canada are already part of Olympic Defender. Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency (SDA), revealed the agency is working closely with Norway to test the military communications network it is building in low Earth orbit. SDA is installing a radio-frequency antenna in northern Norway and testing Link 16, a NATO encrypted tactical data protocol, with Norwegian forces. "We'll be able to do our command and control through Norway," Tournear said. Saltzman also met with military space leaders from 18 nations for the fourth annual Space Chiefs Forum in Colorado Springs, to discuss shared interests in space. The nations represented were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
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| | The new commander of the Space Force's Space Systems Command, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, sat down with SpaceNews for an exclusive interview where he discussed the command's efforts to drive technological progress and better support military space operations. With a $15 billion annual budget, SSC is responsible for acquiring everything from launch services to military satellite constellations. Garrant is making a major push to embrace commercial space technologies and capabilities. The Space Force's new commercial strategy that aims to integrate commercial offerings into a "hybrid architecture" has been bolstered by a new funding line in the 2024 defense budget that will allow the Space Force to more aggressively experiment with and field commercial solutions. With adversaries rapidly advancing their space capabilities, the pressure is on for the Space Force to move with speed and agility, said Garrant.
|  | The Space Systems Command is hosting an "Industry Day" on April 25 focused on space-based environmental monitoring (SBEM).
This event comes amid growing concerns that the military lacks sufficient sources of weather data, imagery, and other environmental intelligence needed to effectively plan and execute operations.
The Space Sensing Office within Space Systems Command is spearheading the market research on SBEM, seeking to leverage emerging commercial technologies and services to bolster the military's space-based environmental monitoring toolkit. | | In other news 🚀 |  | A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 11 launched a U.S. Space Force weather monitoring satellite. The vehicle lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carrying the military's first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) satellite.
Made by Ball Aerospace — a company recently acquired by BAE Systems — WSF-M has a microwave imager instrument to collect weather data including the measurement of ocean surface wind speed and direction, ice thickness, snow depth, soil moisture and local space weather. | | The State and Commerce Departments will start a process this summer to update space systems on export control lists, potentially lessening the restrictions on some technologies.
Chirag Parikh, executive secretary of the National Space Council, said the upcoming review was needed to reflect rapid changes in space capabilities since the last time space export controls were reformed in the early 2010s.
"It's been over a decade since we had the last significant amount of export control review on space technology," he said. "I think technology has evolved. I think the global capabilities of space have evolved." | | | | Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, is calling on the commercial industry to develop affordable, radiation-hardened electronics.
"Commercial innovation in this area can help to ensure the security and resilience of our satellite systems in orbit," Shyu said.
The comments from the Pentagon's top research official signal that the U.S. military is concerned about the possibility of detonation of a nuclear weapon in space that could degrade or permanently disable individual satellites or entire constellations. | |  | United Launch Alliance on April 9 launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite on the final flight of the Delta 4 Heavy rocket.
The launch of NROL-70 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, marked the end of an era for the Delta 4 Heavy that launched 16 missions since its debut in December 2004. | | Thanks for reading ! Please send comments, suggestions and tips to serwin@spacenews.com | | | | |
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