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Category: satellites – Page 74

Space Force envisions digital future for testing and training

Saltzman, the service’s deputy chief of space operations, cyber and nuclear, envisions a future testing and training enterprise where space operators can connect virtually to practice tactics and new satellites and sensors are assessed in realistic simulated environments to make sure they’re working as designed.

“We don’t really have that ability to connect those things together,” Saltzman said during a recent Defense Writers Group event. “If you think about connection of simulators, if you think about that virtual range where those simulators plug in so they’re in an operational environment so they can see each other in a virtual sense — that’s kind of the next generation of training.”

The Space Force is on a path toward creating a National Space Test and Training Complex that could make Saltzman’s vision a reality. The service released its Test Enterprise Vision in May, identifying the NSTTC as a key enabler for space system and operator readiness.

Space Development Agency plans for ‘enduring’ satellite experimentation testbed

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency wants to buy 10 satellites to support a new on-orbit experimentation effort.

The agency released a draft solicitation June 3 for the National Defense Space Architecture Experimental Testbed, or NExT, seeking a satellite provider to integrate government-provided payloads onto 10 satellites that SDA will use to test new capabilities.

The testbed will support SDA’s vision of creating a constellation of hundreds of satellites operating in low Earth orbit and is on track to launch the first of those systems this fall. While the initial solicitation will be for 10 satellites, an SDA official told C4ISRNET June 14 the agency expects NExT to provide an “enduring” test and experimentation capability. The official spoke on background to freely discuss the program.

Pentagon considers using SpaceX for fleet of militarized Starships

The US Transportation Command, or USTRANSCOM, are a Pentagon office tasked with transporting cargo to American global military assets, announced that it was partnering with SpaceX to examine the feasibility of quickly blasting supplies into space and back to Earth rather than flying them through the air.

SpaceX is already functionally a defense contractor and has launched American military satellites and recently bolstered Ukrainian communication links with Starlink.

Practical uses

Three examples of potential “DOD use cases for point-to-point space transportation,” were presented in the document.

Swarms of Satellites Around the Sun Could Supply Us With Unlimited Power

This sci-fi megastructure has captivated big thinkers for decades. A leading expert in astrobiology tells us how to construct one.

The paper focused more on theory than engineering, and Dyson provided scant details on what such a megastructure might look like or how we might build one. He described his sphere only as a “habitable shell” encircling a star. But that was enough to captivate and inspire astrophysicists, scientists, and sci-fi writers. In some depictions, the Dyson Sphere, as it became known, appears as a massive ring encircling a star and reaching nearly to Earth. In others, the Sphere completely encases the sun, a hulking megastructure capturing every bit of that star’s energy. In addition to scientific works, Dyson Spheres have appeared in novels, movies, and TV shows—including Star Trek —as a home for advanced civilizations.

Dyson himself understood the challenges of constructing such a massive structure, and he was skeptical that it might ever happen. Nonetheless, his Sphere has stirred ambitious ideas about the future of our civilization, and it continues to be offered as a solution to some of humanity’s most dire dilemmas. Harnessing the total energy of our sun—or any star—would solve our immediate and long-term energy crisis, but when civilization gains access to the complete energy output of a star, meeting our terrestrial energy needs is just the beginning.

With so much energy available, we could direct high-powered laser pulses toward exoplanets that we think may contain life, immeasurably expanding our chances of communicating with distant civilizations. These Dyson-powered beams could travel farther into the universe than anything currently possible, penetrating the higher-density areas of space, such as dust clouds, which decay the signals we send now.

Royal Caribbean wants to add Elon Musk’s Starlink high-speed internet to its cruise ships

Elon Musk said deploying Starlink at sea ‘will be relatively easy.’

SpaceX’s Starlink internet is living up to its billing as a service that will be available almost anywhere on Earth, including in the air and out at sea.

That’s because the satellite internet service may soon be available for passengers aboard Royal Caribbean Group cruise ships, according to a blog post from the company.

DoD space agency to acquire 10 satellites for experiments in low Earth orbit

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency is looking to acquire as many as 10 satellites to host military payloads for experiments in low Earth orbit.

This new procurement of satellites – known as the NExT experimental testbed – replaces a previous SDA program called T1DES announced last fall.

The T1DES procurement was for 18 satellites hosting industry-developed experimental payloads. The plan was to integrate them with the agency’s 126-satellite broadband constellation known as the Transport Layer Tranche 1 projected to launch in 2024. Under the new plan, SDA will move forward with the deployment of the Transport Layer and will select a separate contractor to produce 10 satellites that will host government-developed payloads for technology experiments.