Tag: space force

In a rare disclosure, the Pentagon provides an update on the X-37B spaceplane

After more than nine months in an unusual, highly elliptical orbit, the US military’s X-37B spaceplane will soon begin dipping its wings into Earth’s atmosphere to lower its altitude before eventually coming back to Earth for a runway landing, the Space Force said Thursday.

The aerobraking maneuvers will use a series of passes through the uppermost fringes of the atmosphere to gradually reduce its speed with aerodynamic drag while expending minimal fuel. In orbital mechanics, this reduction in velocity will bring the apogee, or high point, of the X-37B’s orbit closer to Earth.

Bleeding energy

The Space Force called the aerobraking a “novel space maneuver” and said its purpose was to allow the X-37B to “safely dispose of its service module components in accordance with recognized standards for space debris mitigation.”

While the reusable Boeing-built X-37B spaceplane is designed to land like an aircraft on a runway, the service module, mounted to the rear of the vehicle, carries additional payloads. At the end of the mission, the X-37B jettisons the disposable service module before reentry. The Space Force doesn’t want this section of the spacecraft to remain in its current high-altitude orbit and become a piece of space junk.

“Once the aerobrake maneuver is complete, the X-37B will resume its test and experimentation objectives until they are accomplished, at which time the vehicle will deorbit and execute a safe return as it has during its six previous missions,” the Space Force said.

The Space Force has identified mobility in orbit as a key focus for its next-generation space missions. This would allow satellites to more freely move between altitudes and orbital inclinations than they can today. Commanders don’t want a spacecraft’s movements to be constrained by the amount of fuel it carries, allowing satellites to “maneuver without regret.”

Space Force leaders have discussed in-orbit refueling, more efficient propulsion technologies, and other ways to achieve this end. Aerobraking is another way to lower a spacecraft’s orbit without using precious propellant.

“This first-of-a-kind maneuver from the X-37B is an incredibly important milestone for the United States Space Force as we seek to expand our aptitude and ability to perform in this challenging domain,” said Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s chief of space operations.

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Industry ‘hamstrung’ by Space Force-intel community’s turf war

The space industry is waiting for the Space Force and intelligence community to come to an agreement over buying commercial satellite imagery and related analysis—a fight, some say, that is preventing troops from making the fullest use of orbital capabilities. 

Currently, the National Reconnaissance Office is in charge of buying intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance imagery from commercial space providers, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in charge of purchasing analytic products. But in the five years since the Space Force was created, the young service has increasingly pushed for funds and leeway to work directly with commercial firms, arguing that it can more quickly get important information to combatant commands.

Earlier this year, Space Force launched a $40 million pilot program to show just how fast it could move information and insights from orbiting sensors to troops on ground. It began soliciting bids for “tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking,” or TacSRT, through a “marketplace,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters last month. 

“What TacSRT is doing with this pilot in particular is: we simply ask a question into the marketplace: ‘Hey, what generally does it look like around Air Base 201? Are there any items of interest, trucks, that are massing? Is there a huge parking lot? Do we see people milling around?’ We simply ask the question. And commercial industry provides us products that try to help us answer the question,” he said.

Saltzman has emphasized that the pilot program buys analysis based on imagery but not images themselves, carefully skirting NRO’s territory.  

Executives with commercial space companies that have participated in the pilot’s marketplace call it revolutionary. Some jobs have moved from a work statement announcement to the start of a mission in as little as 24 to 72 hours. 

But these executives say that unless TacSRT gets more funding, and the intel community gives more leeway to the Space Force, commercial companies and combatant commands could suffer. 

Under the current NGA-centric process, it can take weeks for military analysts in a relatively quiet command—i.e., anywhere that’s not China, Ukraine, or the Middle East—to hear back on a request for satellite imagery, said Joe Morrison, the vice president of remote sensing at Umbra, which operates a synthetic aperture radar constellation and provides data to analytics firms in the TacSRT program. 

Morrison said the current system was designed to manage requests for a scarce number of very-high-quality, very-much-in-demand “national assets”—not to draw efficiently on commercial offerings to make sure all needs are met in timely fashion. He said this has discouraged analysts from even putting in a request for imagery or insights, which has artificially depressed apparent demand for them and has “hamstrung” Umbra’s ability to demonstrate its utility.

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Space Force Touts Plans for Part-Time Service, Even as Opposition and Space National Guard Proposal Loom

Gen. Chance Saltzman, the top military leader of the Space Force, highlighted five former Air Force reservists during a keynote speech at an annual conference this week, revealing they were among the first service members to transfer into jobs in his service.

For now, the initiative allowing such reservists to transfer to the Space Force is accepting only those who are willing to serve full time as Guardians on active duty. The service is hoping to eventually allow part-time Space Force service as an option to those in the Air Force Reserve.

But many of the basic details of a part-time model — most notably, making sure newly transferred Guardians would get paid — still need to be worked out, Saltzman said during an Air and Space Forces Association conference in the Washington, D.C., area. The effort also comes amid a national debate over a potential alternative, the creation of a Space National Guard manned by part-time troops.

“We do not want to hurt anybody in the transition period,” Saltzman said. “That is first and foremost in all our minds. And when I say hurt, I mean when you cross over, you don’t get paid — that’s a problem. Our databases for the Space Force don’t include how you bill part-time hours. That’s done over in the Air Force. We need to migrate those capabilities over so that we can manage our force from a part-time standpoint.”

In a separate conference discussion with reporters Tuesday, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna told Military.com that the service wants the new part-time model to be a unique experience and one that doesn’t mirror the existing reserve system.

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U.S. To Track Moving Air And Ground Targets Via Space By 2030, But Aircraft Will Still Play A Part

The U.S. Space Force second-in-command has provided updates on plans for the service’s introduction of space-based ground moving-target indicator and air moving-target indicator (GMTI/AMTI) capabilities. Also discussed was the U.S. military’s need for a layered surveillance network, including to deal with the expanding breadth of enemy ‘kill webs,’ something which TWZ has discussed in the depth in the past.

Speaking today at the annual Defense News Conference in Arlington, Virginia, Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, the Vice Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force (USSF), said that the first parts of a satellite-based GMTI/AMTI capability should start coming online in “probably the early 2030s.”

Importantly, however, Gen. Guetlein said that he expects the U.S. military’s future surveillance network to involve multiple assets, both in the atmosphere and in space. “I see it always being a layered set of capabilities to increase survivability, first and foremost,” he said.

While a layered surveillance network — one including space-based assets, alongside crewed aircraft, drones, and potentially other platforms — has been discussed for some time now, it was only last month that the design baseline for Space Force’s new satellite system was certified, meaning that it can now progress into the formal development phase.

In the past there have also been repeated suggestions that space-based surveillance assets would increasingly take over from the aircraft that have traditionally undertaken surveillance of targets on the ground, at sea, and in the air. In particular, satellite-based surveillance assets offer the advantages of greater persistence and — at least in the past — enhanced survivability. It is also worth noting that the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is reportedly acquiring a constellation of hundreds of intelligence-gathering satellites from SpaceX, with a specific focus on tracking targets down below in support of ground operations. Its relationship to the USSF program is unclear, but there is certainly some crossover regarding capabilities.

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Donald Trump promises to create a Space Force National Guard if elected president

Donald Trump has promised to create a Space Force National Guard if elected president.

The Republican nominee told the National Guard Association of the United States in Detroit that a reserve force is critical for defense in outer space.

Fears of Russia developing nuclear weapons to use specifically in space have ramped up in recent months.

Space is also becoming a vital area of national security as adversaries develop their celestial military capabilities. 

Trump set up Space Force in December 2019 to form the first new branch of the military since 1947, when the Air Force became its own entity.

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The Government Doesn’t Want You To See the Unused Space Force Logos

As Sunshine Week 2024 draws to a close, the Air Force has marked the occasion by hiding the draft designs of logos and uniforms for the Space Force.

Reason filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Air Force in January 2020 for drafts or alternate designs for the logo of the nascent Space Force, one of the Trump administration’s more expensive and whimsical farces.

A quick four years later, the Air Force released 122 pages of communications between the public servants who designed the uniforms, logo, and seal for Star Fleet—excuse me, Space Force.

Unfortunately for everyone who was looking forward to seeing Project Runway: Department of Defense Edition, the Air Force redacted all images of the draft versions, citing Exemption (b)(5) of the FOIA.

Exemption (b)(5) is also known as the “deliberative process” exemption. It protects discussions between bureaucrats about policy decisions, under the reasoning that bureaucrats wouldn’t be as frank if everything they said got dragged into the public eye (by annoying reporters like myself). 

Congress amended the FOIA in 2016 to state that agencies should operate with a “presumption of openness” and only withhold documents when there is a “foreseeable harm,” not out of fear of embarrassment. Despite that, federal agencies still regularly abuse exemptions, especially (b)(5). In this case, the Air Force seems to be claiming that its staff would be afraid to design uniforms if their mock-ups were public. Sorry, but fashion’s a tough business.

All is not lost, though. Some tidbits slipped by the censors.

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Transgender Space Force Colonel Says Using Pronouns in Emails Will Help Win Wars

During a speech to the U.S. Air Force, transgender Space Force Col. Bree Fram demanded everyone use pronouns in their emails as a way to enhance “winning war fighting strategies”.

Yes, really.

“All too often, I hear leaders talk about providing everyone with dignity and respect like it’s an aspirational goal, that ‘s not good enough,” said Fram.

“Dignity and respect is the bare minimum, it’s the floor of where we can be, we must set our sights higher and focus on intentional inclusivity, because there are still far too many people out there, not just LGBTQ individuals, that feel marginalized, shut out or discriminated against,” he added.

“So for all of you out there, I ask you to set out your symbols of pride, share your pronouns in your email, particularly if you’re a person who doesn’t think they need to, initiate difficult conversations about racial and gender barriers, and share a bit of your vulnerability in a way that draws others in.”

“You all have the power to take intentionally inclusive action to ensure the multiple perspectives that we know make us stronger as we devise winning war fighting strategies get heard.”

Respondents ox X weren’t really too convinced that dignifying transgender pronouns will help win wars.

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SPACE FORCE WILL TAKE COMMAND OF FUTURE LIVE TARGET-TRACKING SATELLITES

The U.S. Space Force is set to take command of a new fleet of satellites that will provide real-time monitoring of ground targets around the globe, offering unprecedented surveillance capabilities. 

Known as the Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI), and in development by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the Space Force will be the lead operator of this new and advanced satellite system, reports Space News. This initiative represents a significant modernization effort, as it will replace aging aircraft systems like the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).

Last year, the US government allocated $5 billion to develop the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) system. The eventual launch of this system will test how well satellites can track missiles in flight. The Space Force and its component Space Development Agency (SDA) have aimed to deploy over 135 satellites to track advanced missiles, with a focus on enhancing missile defense capabilities, especially as Russia and China have both been rapidly developing these technologies. The architecture’s configuration and its relation to missile defense are still under consideration, and there are ongoing discussions about the deployment of sensor constellations for global coverage and specific regional needs.

Now, the NRO is partnering with the Space Force and will have access to the data from GMTI, but the military chain of command will drive the program based on priorities approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. The Space Force is working on the requirements for the new sensors and will oversee the acquisition program’s progress, while the NRO is responsible for the actual acquisition of the classified sensor payloads based on its own design.

Space Force guardians will be responsible for tasking and controlling where the satellites direct their sight, based upon requests from commanders in the field. U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, while speaking at a panel discussion at the Air & Space Force Association’s Warfare Conference in Aurora, Colorado, called the new technology an “operational imperative.”

According to Burt, the plan is that the GMTI system will replace what current spy aircraft are doing, and essentially move that aspect of intelligence gathering into the space domain. While nearly all of this is classified, the system will be able to monitor and track targets in real time, operating on land, sea, and in the sky. Moreover, all that intelligence can then be put into the hands of operators in the field. 

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US Military Launches Highly Classified Unmanned Space Plane

The US Space Force launched a secretive plane on Thursday which has been equipped with heavier boosters that could feasibly send it further into orbit than ever before.

The launch marks the 9th flight of the three-core SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster, and the 7th flight of the US Air Force’s (not so) secret unmanned spaceplane, the X-37B (USSF-52).

The launch was previously scheduled for Dec. 10, however it was scrapped due to issues with ground equipment just 30 minutes before liftoff – pushing the event back 18 days.

Officially, the X-37B will enter into various orbits around Earth and serve as a testing ground for NASA’s study of the effects of long-duration exposure to space on organic materials, the Epoch Times reports, adding that the mission will also include experiments having to do with “space domain awareness,” which the US Space Force defines as the ability to “rapidly detect, warn, characterize, attribute, and predict threats to national, allied, and commercial space systems.”

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Space Force Says Documents on “Fastwalkers” and “Slowwalkers” All “Exempt from Disclosure”

The United States Space Force has issued a full denial in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information on “Fastwalkers” and “Slowwalkers“. This request, filed by The Black Vault in July 2023, asked for all procedures and manuals, either present or past, that reference these terms. The Space Force’s refusal to disclose this information under FOIA exemption (b)(1) Section 1.1(a) raises questions about the secrecy surrounding these phenomena, especially in light of the recent openness of other government branches regarding unidentified objects more commonly referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).

Before delving into the details of the denial, it’s crucial to understand what “Fastwalkers” and “Slowwalkers” are. Although information on these two terms is hard to come by, it is believed that these designations originated with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and are used to describe objects detected by defense systems moving at significantly different speeds. “Fastwalkers” refer to objects entering or leaving the atmosphere at high velocities, often captured by satellite systems. On the other hand, “Slowwalkers” denote objects moving slowly or hovering, detected by similar surveillance means.

These terms are distinct from the more commonly known UAP, a term that has gained widespread attention following official reports and acknowledgments by the U.S. Navy and other government entities. The UAP designation typically encompasses unidentified flying objects exhibiting flight characteristics possibly beyond current aerospace capabilities or is not immediately identifiable within our atmosphere; while “Fastwalkers” and “Slowwalkers” describe unidentified objects outside of it.

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