Space Policy
Space Development Agency’s Tournear still has need for speed
Four years into his tenure atop the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, Derek Tournear saw key goals realized in 2023. The first small, commercially built satellites for missile warning and communications are set to change how the Pentagon detects missile threats
After Russian ASAT leak, superpowers back away from showdown
Growing threats from anti-satellite weapons were spotlighted in February when U.S. officials warned Congress about a Russian weapons development program targeting spacecraft with nuclear weapons.
Iran’s recent space success could advance nuclear aims, retired General says
A Sunday launch that placed three Iranian satellites into orbit could signal the Islamic Republic’s ability to use its launch vehicles to deliver warheads to distant targets, warned retired Air Force Gen. Lance Lord, a former leader of Pentagon space efforts. Announced by Iran’s state news agency IRNA, the Sunday launch was the nation’s second successful space mission in the past month and the first to deliver multiple satellites. The three satellites, Mahda, Keyhan-2, and Hatef-1, were described by Iran as research satellites designed to test a variety of technologies including communications.
Spy Agency Uses Data from Space, Experience on the Ground to Win Battles, Save Lives with Maps
Seizing the high ground to see what lies ahead, a skill as old as warfare itself, has never been more important. Now, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the intelligence community’s mapmakers, are seizing the high ground of commercial space to augment the products they deliver to the military and first responders at disaster scenes.
Accelerated Launch Pace, Debris and AI Shape the 2024 Space Forecast
White House Authorization and Supervision Draft Legislation on Collision Course with Hill and Parts of Industry
Making the Case for a U.S. Space National Guard
American foreign policy is sitting on a razor’s edge. The United States now must walk a tightrope between maintaining global posture and avoiding global conflict.
Astronomers, Satellite Operators Work to Co-Exist in Busy Low Earth Orbit
Satellite constellations with units in the hundreds to thousands are causing visual and radio interference to astronomical observations across the world. These incidents coincide with astronomers’ calls for updated space policy and technology to preserve their data.
New Lockheed Martin orders spur race for nuclear propulsion in space
The Defense Department is taking a closer look at powering spacecraft with next-generation nuclear reactors with a pair of programs announced in recent months that test rival methods to unlock the potential fission-powered spaceflight.
New Race to the Moon Geostrategic Issues Dwarf Former US-Soviet Rivalry
Until December 2013, when China’s Yutu rover rolled onto the lunar surface, the United States and Russia were smug in being the only countries to successfully land spacecraft on the Moon. That exclusive club was just blown open in August 2023 by the historic success of India’s Vikram lander reaching the Moon’s south pole.