OpEd: FCC and Ligado are undermining GPS – and with it, our economy and national security
Date: April 22, 2020 | Outlet: C4ISRNet | By Sen. Jim Inhofe, Sen. Jack Reed, Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Mac Thornberry Right now, the coronavirus is rightly our country’s most immediate concern. But the Federal Communications Commission has used the crisis, under the cover of darkness, to approve a long-stalled application by Ligado Networks — a proposal…
US girds its satellite communications infrastructure in space during coronavirus pandemic
Date: April 18, 2020 | Outlet: CNBC.com | By Sarah Scoles In 2016 a Navy satellite called MUOS-5 wasn’t doing well. Partway to its intended orbit, it simply stalled out – but because the spacecraft was already so far away, the dilemma’s details were hard to discern. That’s where the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program…
Space Development Agency to seek bids for its first constellation
Date: April 2, 2020 | Outlet: SpaceNews | By Sandra Erwin SDA will issue a final solicitation for bids for the mesh network of satellites known as “transport layer” around May 1. WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency intends to select two or more companies later this year to design, build and test a mesh…
SDA’s First Satellites Aim to Enable JADC2
Date: April 2, 2020 | Outlet: Air Force Magazine | By Rachel S. Cohen The Space Development Agency has released its draft request for proposals for an initial batch of 20 data-relay satellites known as the “Tranche 0 transport layer.” Pentagon officials see the transport layer as a way to unify the various space-based sensors that…
SPACE JUST IN: Space Development Agency to Award First Satellite Contracts by August
Date: April 2, 2020 | Outlet: National Defense Magazine | By Mandy Mayfield The Space Development Agency plans to have the first constellation of tracking and communications satellites in low-Earth orbit by 2022, the agency’s director said April 2. The first step will be to a “tranche zero constellation,” Derek Tournear told reporters during a press…
Space Force Prompts Pentagon Effort to Streamline Its Purchasing
Date: February 13, 2020 | Outlet: Bloomberg Government | By Travis J. Tritten The military’s two-month-old Space Force is on trajectory for major growth but the Pentagon is still weighing an overhaul of how it buys and develops the hardware needed. Past programs have suffered from poor planning and bureaucracy amid threats from adversaries, lawmakers…
Space Development Agency Rolling Out Solicitations
Date: Jan. 21, 2020 | Outlet: National Defense Magazine | By Jon Harper The Space Development Agency released a broad agency announcement Jan. 21 for new technologies, and additional solicitations will be coming down the pipeline soon, the organization’s director told reporters. The SDA is charged with accelerating the development and fielding of cutting edge…
SDA’s 2020 Plans Take Shape
Date: Jan. 22, 2020 | Outlet: Air Force Magazine | By Rachel S. Cohen The Space Development Agency in 2020 is embarking on its first full year of work to put up potentially thousands of satellites that aim to share combat data in new ways and better protect US interests. After standing up in March 2019,…
Space Development Agency Director Announced
Date: October. 28, 2019 The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced the selection of Dr. Derek Tournear as the first permanent director of the Space Development Agency. Established in March, the Space Development Agency is responsible for unifying and integrating the Department’s space development efforts, monitoring the Department’s threat-driven future space architecture, and accelerating fielding…
Space Development Agency Addresses Growing Capability Gaps
Date: July 23, 2019 | Outlet: DOD News | BY DAVID VERGUN The space domain is vital to warfighters, with information from satellites used for such things as communications, missile tracking and navigation. However, there are gaps that near-peer competitors such as China could exploit, said Derek M. Tournear, acting director of the Defense Department’s Space Development…