Space supply chain gaps: Propulsion, hardened electronics and laser links
Even just “mapping the supply chain is hard stuff,” said Reza Nikfarjam, deputy director of the Credit Program at the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC).
Space Force
NRO, MDA pulled out of annual DC Satellite conference due to travel restrictions
Officials from the National Reconnaissance Office and Missile Defense Agency pulled out of the Satellite 2025/GovMilSpace conference, despite it being in downtown Washington.
Awaiting Space Force certification, ULA says future missions could aim to baffle Chinese watcher sats
ULA CEO Tory Bruno separately told reporters his firm identified a “manufacturing” error as the cause of an anomaly in its latest certification launch.
Space Systems Command reviewing expensive legacy programs for possible commercial shift
The idea behind the commercial reviews is to find potential alternatives for “getting us out of one-off, billion-dollar systems into a proliferated architecture,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy.
Emirati consortium to launch first satellite of Sirb constellation by late 2026, early 2027: Exec
The project, called Sirb in a reference to the Arabic term for flock of birds, is to eventually put three UAE-made synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites into low Earth orbit.
SDA again postpones launch of first ‘operational’ data relay, missile warning satellites
SDA originally had hoped to begin launching the Tranche 1 Transport and Tracking Layer constellations for its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture stationed in low Earth orbit in September 2024.
NGA suspends Ukraine’s access to commercial satellite imagery
However, several industry sources said that their companies have not been blocked by NRO from taking pictures over Ukraine.
EU space monitoring program moves toward ‘strategic autonomy’
Many of the sensors contributed by the 15 EU SST participating states are military assets, and the European Defence Fund also is being tapped to help foster commercial innovation in the space situational awareness domain.
Secret Space Force payloads monitor China’s satellite surveillance network, official says
Kelly Hammett, director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, said his organization risks being “inordinately impacted” by workforce reductions underway with the Trump administration.
AST, Kayhan, LeoLabs team to demo capability to reduce Space Force satellite tracking times
The goal of the collaborative effort was to show that commercial data can help close the time lag between when a satellite is released into orbit from a rocket to when the Space Force can reliably track it and put the trajectory coordinates into the mi…