• Home
  • Blog
  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tag: Air Force Research Laboratory

Space Force’s Task to Protect and Defend U.S. Interests Between Here and the Moon

Article by Lauren Fruen                                                  June 28 2021                                                                 (the-sun.com)

• On July 23rd, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) released a 23-page document entitled: “A Primer on Cislunar Space”, referring to the area between the Earth and the Moon. The director of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate, Col. Eric Felt, states: “As commerce extends to the Moon and beyond, it is vital we understand and solve those unique challenges so that we can provide space domain awareness and security.” With the Moon more than 238,000 miles from Earth, countries are scrambling to fill the gap.

• The US Space Force is tasked with defending and protecting U.S. interests in space. When Space Force was established by President Trump in December 2019 as a ‘separate but equal’ branch of the US military, the limits of protected space was in near-Earth geostationary range at 22,236 miles. “With new US public and private sector operations extending into cislunar space, the reach of USSF’s sphere of interest will extend to 272,000 miles and beyond – more than a tenfold increase in range and 1,000-fold expansion in service volume,” reads the report.

• The report adds: “As USSF organizes, trains, and equips to provide the resources necessary to protect and defend vital US interests in and beyond Earth-orbit, new collaborations will be key to operating safely and securely on these distant frontiers.” The report is “targeted at military space professionals who will answer the call to develop plans, capabilities, expertise, and operational concepts.”

• When Space Force was launched, Donald Trump said at the time: “When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.

• Earlier this month, Air Force Colonel Eric Felt got straight to the point: “Space war is going to look a lot like the Cold War in a couple of different ways. First of all, we hope nobody’s actually exchanging destructive weapons with each other, and that we don’t just hope, but we take active actions to deter that from happening. The nature of conflict in space is that there is an offensive advantage, or a ‘first-mover’ advantage, in that it is a lot easier to attack somebody else than to defend your own stuff. And we’ve seen that before—that’s the same as with…nuclear weapons.”

 

                       Colonel Eric Felt

An Air Force Research Laboratory report details how the Earth’s only natural satellite – and the space around it – could become a new military frontier, SpaceNews reports.

The 23-page document, “A Primer on Cislunar Space”, was published by the Air Force Research Laboratory just two days before the US government admitted they could not explain 144 sightings of flying objects.

    President Trump creating Space Force

The report explains it “is targeted at military space professionals who will answer the call to develop plans, capabilities, expertise, and operational concepts.”

It adds: “When established in December 2019, USSF [United States Space Force] was tasked with defending and protecting U.S. interests in space.

“Until now, the limits of that mission have been in near Earth, out to approximately geostationary range (22,236 miles). ”

The report adds: “With new US public and private sector operations extending into cislunar space, the reach of USSF’s sphere of interest will extend to 272,000 miles and beyond – more than a tenfold increase in range and 1,000-fold expansion in service volume.”

Cislunar space is the space between Earth and the moon.

The report adds: “As USSF organizes, trains, and equips to provide the resources necessary to protect and defend vital US interests in and beyond Earth-orbit, new collaborations will be key to operating safely and securely on these distant frontiers.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Air Force Research Laboratory’s New Space War-Fighting Facility

Article by Nathan Strout                                                 May 26, 2021                                                      (c4isrnet.com)

• The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate has opened a $12.8 million Space Warfighting Operations Research and Development (SWORD) laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The SWORD lab will track objects in orbit, support satellite cybersecurity, and develop autonomous capabilities to help space vehicles avoid each other and space debris.

• “One of the reasons we stood up the US Space Force was to ensure our nation has the capabilities to deter any threats in space,” said Col. Eric Felt, the head of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate. “Our job in the SWORD lab will be to continue to develop resilient and innovative technologies that will protect our nation and allies from threats by our adversaries. Recognizing that space is an emerging domain for warfighting, we want to make sure there is never a war in space.”

• The 26,000-square-foot facility that will serve as the home of 65 personnel from AFRL’s Space Control Branch. “This is a laboratory for the nation, for AFRL and the Air and Space Forces where new partnerships will be enabled,” Felt said. “We want to bring people together to ensure we will continue to deliver innovation to the nation.”

• The new facility continues AFRL’s development of new infrastructure at Kirtland Air Force Base dedicated to space. In October 2020, AFRL opened the $4 million Deployable Structures Laboratory, or DeSel, to host the Spacecraft Component Technology Center of Excellence, which develops materials for new deployable space structures.

 

WASHINGTON — The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate

                           Col. Eric Felt

recently opened a space research and development lab at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The $12.8 million Space Warfighting Operations Research and Development, or SWORD, lab will be used to track objects on orbit, advance satellite cybersecurity, and develop autonomous capabilities to help space vehicles avoid each other and space debris, Col. Eric Felt, the head of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate, said in an announcement Tuesday.

“One of the reasons we stood up the U.S. Space Force was to ensure our nation has the capabilities to deter any threats in space,” Felt said. “Our job in the SWORD lab will be to continue to develop resilient and innovative technologies that will protect our nation and allies from threats by our adversaries. Recognizing that space is an emerging domain for warfighting, we want to make sure there is never a war in space.”

The 26,000-square-foot facility that will serve as the home of 65 personnel from AFRL’s Space Control Branch.

“This is a laboratory for the nation, for AFRL and the Air and Space Forces where new partnerships will be enabled,” Felt said. “We want to bring people together to ensure we will continue to deliver innovation to the nation.”

The new facility continues AFRL’s development of new infrastructure at Kirtland Air Force Base dedicated to space. In October 2020, AFRL opened the Deployable Structures Laboratory, or DeSel. That $4 million lab hosts the Spacecraft Component Technology Center of Excellence to develop materials for new deployable space structures.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Space Force Doesn’t Want to Send a Human to Do a Robot’s Job

Article by Nathan Strout                                 September 29, 2020                                 (c4isrnet.com)

• While Space Force officials have tried to keep the focus on what their personnel will do on the ground to support the nation’s space assets, this hasn’t dampened public speculation as to when Space Force will they send humans into orbit. A recent recruiting ad seemingly implied its members would literally be going to space.

• But for anyone joining the Space Force to be an astronaut, Maj. Gen. John Shaw has some bad news. “I think it will happen,” Shaw said on September 29th, “But I think it’s a long way off.” Shaw serves as both commander of Space Force’s Space Operations Command and for the U.S. Space Command’s Combined Force Space Component Command. Shaw sees two big reasons why it’s not likely to happen soon: “First, space isn’t really all that habitable for humans.” “And the second is, we’re getting darned good at this robotics thing in space.”

• “You know, the best robots that humans have ever created are probably satellites — either ones that explore other planets or operated within our own Earth/moon system,” said Shaw. “GPS satellites might be among those …and we’re only getting better with machine learning and artificial intelligence. We’re going to have an awful lot of automated and autonomous systems operating in Earth and lunar orbit and solar orbit in the days and years to come doing national security space activity.”

• The Space Force and the US Air Force are investing in robotic capabilities that preclude the need for humans in space. Most notable is the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Spacecraft (RSGS) program being run by DARPA (illustrated above). With RSGS, DARPA wants to develop a robotic arm that can be placed on a free flying spacecraft which can navigate up to satellites to conduct repairs, orbital adjustments, or even install new payloads. DARPA hopes to launch a robotically enhanced vehicle into orbit in late 2022, where SpaceLogistics will provide the spacecraft and DARPA will provide the robotic arm.

• The Air Force Research Laboratory is building ROBOpilot, a robot that can fly planes, completely replacing the need for human pilots. It can press pedals to activate brakes, pull on the yoke to steer, adjust the throttle, and even read the dashboard instruments to see where it is and where it’s going.

• The secretive X-37b space plane is an unmanned vehicle is currently able to take off, carry host experiments into orbit, deploy satellites, and return to earth without humans on board.

• But Shaw believes that it’s inevitable. “At some point, yes, we will be putting humans into space,” said Shaw. “They may be operating command centers somewhere in the lunar environment or someplace else that are continuing to operate an architecture that is largely perhaps autonomous.”

• In July, the Sierra Nevada Corporation announced it had received a study contract for such autonomous orbital outposts in low Earth orbit. Missions will include hosting payloads, supporting space assembly and manufacturing, microgravity experimentation, logistics, training, testing and evaluations. SpaceNews confirmed that two other companies – Nanoracks and Arkisys – have also received study contracts.

• While these orbital outposts will be unmanned for now, a Defense Innovation Unit spokesperson said that it would be interested in securing a “human rating” for future outposts. So even if humans on orbit are not part of the military’s immediate plans, it remains a tantalizing possibility. “At some point that will happen. I just don’t know when,” said Shaw. “And it’s anybody’s guess to pick the year when that happens.”

 

                  Maj. Gen. John Shaw

Since it was established in Dec. 2019 — and probably even before that — one question has plagued the U.S. Space Force: when will they send humans into orbit?

While Space Force officials have tried to keep the focus on what their personnel will do on the ground to support the nation’s space assets, they’ve done little to dampen speculation. The Space Force probably didn’t help itself when it released a recruiting ad earlier this year that seemingly implied its members would literally be going to space.

But for anyone joining the Space Force to be an astronaut, Maj. Gen. John Shaw has some potentially bad news.

“I think it will happen,” said Shaw during the AFWERX Engage Space event Sept. 29. “But I think it’s a long way off.”

Shaw would know. He’s been a key member of the lean staff standing up both the Space Force and U.S. Space Command, serving simultaneously as commander of the former’s Space Operations Command and the latter’s Combined Force Space Component Command. While Shaw sees humans in orbit as part of the military’s plans somewhere down the line, there are two big reasons why it’s not likely to happen soon:
“First, space isn’t really all that habitable for humans. We’ve learned that since our early space days,” he explained. “And the second is, we’re getting darned good at this robotics thing in space.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Laser Weapons in Space Will Shoot Down Missiles

Article by Kris Osborn                                    September 18, 2020                                   (nationalinterest.org)

• The space environment is highly conducive to laser weapons. Laser technology is being developed that carries a multitude of applications, particularly in space. The obvious application is space-based anti-missile laser weapons which can be used at “scalable” levels, ie: they can be used solely for detection and surveillance, or they can be gradually powered-up to stun, disable or destroy a target, or even to simply ‘jam’ enemy weapons or communications networks. A laser can be fired from an orbiting satellite to hit an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) at different phases of the missile’s trajectory.

• Weapons developers are now working on “power-scaling” laser systems to engineer weapons strong enough to incinerate enemy missiles in space. This not only requires range but also power systems sufficient to generate the desired effects. The Pentagon is developing surface ship-fired lasers strong enough to travel out to the boundaries of the Earth’s atmosphere. Defense contractors are working on a new kind of unmanned ‘space drone’ able to travel beyond the Earth’s atmosphere for missile defense, surveillance or attack missions.

• Lasers travel more effectively beyond the earth’s atmosphere and experience less “beam attenuation” or weakening which can often happen due to weather or other obscurants operating closer to Earth. Also, lasers can attenuate at longer ranges, and many beams need to be consolidated into a single weapon to generate enough power to achieve the desired effect.

• A lesser known application is the use of lasers as optical sensors, according to experts with the Air Force Research Laboratory. “Lasers are super useful as optics in space. We view lasers as foundational to our space architecture,” says Colonel Eric Felt, Director, Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base.

 

Space-based anti-missile laser weapons calls many military possibilities to mind. After all, there are already different lasers built, some more often

                     Colonel Eric Felt

discussed than others. For instance, is well known that lasers are being explored for intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) defense in space. Moreover, the Missile Defense Agency officials tell The National Interest that weapons developers are now working on “power-scaling” laser systems to engineer weapons strong enough to incinerate enemy missiles in space. This not only requires range but also power systems sufficient to generate the desired effects.

Where would they fire from? Well that is a fascinating question which is already receiving a lot of attention. Lasers could at some point fire directly from satellites to burn holes in ICBMs either in space, during a beginning boost phase or during the terminal phase as it is closing in on a target.

Also, the Pentagon is developing surface ship-fired lasers strong enough to travel out to the boundaries of the earth’s atmosphere. Engineers at firms like Booz Allen Hamilton are already doing conceptual work on the possibility of building new kinds of hardened, space drones or unmanned systems able to travel beyond the earth’s atmosphere for missile defense, surveillance or even attack missions.

Much work still needs to be done, yet initial efforts are beginning to show great promise, as many explain that the space environment is highly conducive to laser weapons. Lasers travel more effectively beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and experience less “beam attenuation” or weakening which can often happen due to weather or other obscurants operating closer to earth. Also, lasers can attenuate at longer ranges, and many beams need to be consolidated into a single weapon to generate enough power to achieve the desired effect.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Space Industry Report Extends Geopolitics Out to the Moon

August 24, 2020                              (larouchepub.com)

• Last May, the US Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory held a ‘space industrial workshop’ with 120 experts in government, industry, and academia. This resulted in a report released in July entitled: “State of the Space Industrial Base”, an unofficial assessment of industrial base supporting the US military in space.

• The report confirms a previous determination made in the National Security Strategy of 2017 that identified Russia and China as “strategic adversaries” of the United States. According to the 2017 report, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.” In this new report, Space Force chief, General John Raymond, writes in the forward that this viewpoint extends directly into space.

• The new report also cites a 2019 report from the Air Force Space Command entitled: “The Future of Space 2060 and Implications for U.S. Strategy” stating that “China is executing a long-term civil, commercial, and military strategy to explore and economically develop the cislunar domain with the explicit aim of displacing the US as the leading space power. Other nations are developing similar national strategies.”

• According to the report, China plans to “lure U.S. allies and partners away from U.S.-led space initiatives, through its Belt and Road Initiative and plans for an Earth Moon Economic Zone” worth $10 trillion. Through this initiative, China intends to become the leading, global/space super-power by 2049, displacing the US in that role.

• The report predicts that “the first nation to establish transportation infrastructure and logistics capabilities serving GEO and cislunar space will have superior ability to exercise control of cislunar space and in particular the Lagrange points and the resources of the Moon.” “The job of the US Space Force is to provide “security and a stabilizing military presence” for the U.S. economic presence in this zone.”

• The report goes on to suggest that the US Air Force “should consider the degree to which this role should emulate the US Navy role in assuring the maritime domain. Clarity on this issue will drive commercial confidence for a more rapid expansion of U.S. space entrepreneurial activity.” It urges the USAF to have “an increased role in America’s return to the Moon” and its planetary defense could ‘accelerate America’s edge in asteroid mining and in-space transportation.”

• “The U.S. should develop a guiding national vision for long-term space industrialization and national space development to catalyze whole-of-nation efforts and enable the United States to compete and win now and into the future,” says the report. This would include providing safety of navigation services, secure commerce, and protect civil infrastructure in the space domain in order to foster opportunities for partnerships with companies to develop prototypes and to procure operational product services.

• The report concludes that the US Space Force needs to continue the “space leadership created by recent policy and organizational advances …as space activities expand beyond geosynchronous orbit.”

• [Editor’s Note]   What these studies and reports do not take into account is the fact that the United States military has had operational space fleets, using extraterrestrial propulsion technology, since the US Navy’s Solar Warden was deployed in the 1980s. Since then, the Air Force and NASA have both deployed their own secret space program fleets of advanced spacecraft and cislunar platforms. Other nations including China and Russia have done the same. So the real exopolitical space strategies go far beyond the alarmist geopolitical scare tactics found in these reports.

 

The report “State of the Space Industrial Base,” released last week by the Defense Innovation Unit, the U.S. Space Force, and the Air Force Research Laboratory, is, in effect, the space annex to the National Security Strategy of 2017. That document defines Russia and China as strategic adversaries of the United States. “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity,” it claims on page 2. That outlook is extended directly into the space domain by this report, writes Gen. John Raymond, chief of the U.S. Space Force, in the foreword to the document.

   Space Force General John Raymond

The report itself flowed out of a space industrial base workshop that met in New Mexico in May and brought together 120 experts in government, industry, and academia; but the report that they produced is not an official policy document. Rather, it’s an assessment of the state of the industrial base along with a set of recommendations. Nonetheless, “it is important that we listen to these insights and evaluate the feasibility of implementing them in the advancement of national interests. America’s future in space is a partnership and, as with any partnership, communication is key,” Raymond writes.

In the introduction, the report cites an assessment produced by Air Force Space Command in 2019 entitled “The Future of Space 2060 and Implications for U.S. Strategy,” which itself was the product of yet another workshop. That report, among other things, complains that “China is executing a long-term civil, commercial, and military strategy to explore and economically develop the cislunar domain with the explicit aim of displacing the U.S. as the leading space power. Other nations are developing similar national strategies.”

“The U.S. is not alone in planning to return humans to the Moon or expanding the use of space,” the space industrial report says.

“China has announced its intention to do so by 2035. China 22 is committed and credible in its pledge to become the leading, global super-power, to include space, by 2049 marking the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic. A key component of China’s strategy is to displace the U.S. as the leading power in space and lure U.S. allies and partners away from U.S.-led space initiatives, through its Belt and Road Initiative and plans for an Earth Moon Economic Zone.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Officials Hail Rome NY Lab’s Foray Into Quantum Technology

Article by Dave Gymburch                              June 17, 2020                             (romesentinel.com)

• On June 15-16th , the Air Force Research Laboratory headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio sponsored a 2-day event in Rome, New York wherein small tech businesses could make a 20-minute pitch to senior Air Force officials as to novel approaches to advance quantum-enabling technology and applications. The program ultimately awarded 36 contracts to 23 companies from nine states, amounting to $5.4 million to small businesses.

• Rome Lab, the Air Force’s ‘super laboratory’ for science and technology, was praised by a Pentagon official for its key role in quantum technology research. Assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, Will Roper, said during a keynote session that Quantum technology is “one of those potential game-changers.” “What we hope to do… with Rome Lab leading the way, (is to) get that quantum technology over the goal line and into the warfighter’s hands,” said Roper.

• Roper praised New York Congressman Anthony Brindisi for the work being done at Rome Lab, formally known as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate, and spoke about the importance of research for quantum development and the funding to support it.

• Quantum technology is considered an emerging field of physics and engineering, which relies on principles of quantum physics. Among potential impacts of quantum technology include GPS-like precision in locations where there is no GPS signal or it is severely degraded; ultra-secure global communication networks; high-precision sensors linked together with a quantum network; new computing paradigms for optimization of asset and resource allocations, discovery of new materials, and novel applications of artificial intelligence.

• Congressman Brindisi expressed the importance to bring together small business, industry, and academia with Department of Defense labs for “faster and more efficient development of quantum technology.”

• Rome Lab Director Colonel Timothy Lawrence said the event will hopefully be a “step in the right direction” for giving the Air Force, Space Force and the nation what is needed regarding quantum development.

 

                      Dr. Will Roper

Rome Lab’s key role in quantum technology research was praised by a Pentagon official during a two-day event aimed at enhancing small businesses’ involvement in the initiative.

Quantum technology is “one of those potential game-changers,” said Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, during a keynote session Monday for the virtual quantum collider pitch event.

“What we hope to do…the Air Force and the Space Force, with Rome Lab leading the way, is put year-after-year routine demand, routine challenges…routine funding to

Colonel Timothy Lawrence

bring Q-Day, the day we get that quantum technology over the goal line and into the warfighter’s hands…where we bring that early,” said Roper.

Earlier in the session after Congressman Anthony Brindisi spoke about the importance of research for quantum development and the funding to support it, Roper said “I applaud you for thinking ahead and making sure that all quantum roads lead to Rome…and really appreciate all the work the lab is doing in your district.” Rome Lab, based at Griffiss Park, is formally known as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate.

Roper was among several speakers at the event, which included small businesses in private 20-minute pitch sessions with senior officials for novel approaches to advance quantum-enabling technology and/or applications. The AFRL program called for awarding up to 36 contracts and up to $5.4 million to small businesses in this phase of the initiative.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Space Force Considering NASA-Style Partnerships With Private Companies

Article by Sandra Erwin                           June 4, 2020                          (spacenews.com)

• The launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on May 30th that took NASA astronauts to the International Space Station was the “culmination of perhaps the most successful private-public partnership of all times,” said Colonel Eric Felt, head of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate. In a SpaceNews online event June 4th, Felt noted that Space Force will be far smaller than the other U.S. military services, so it plans to follow the NASA playbook and team up with the private sector. “The Space Force is going to be the most high tech of all of the services,” said Felt.

• Public-private partnerships, like deals with SpaceX and Boeing, have saved NASA billions of dollars. There are many commercial capabilities that can be used to meet military needs, with “hybrid architecture”. For example, commercial companies already have powerful sensors and data analytics systems to track and investigate space objects. The Space Force’s AFRL is looking into public-private deals to use these commercial satellites to enhance its “space domain awareness”, allowing Space Force to monitor every object in outer space. (see video below)

• Another application using private satellites in low Earth orbit is for the deployment of sensors for the Air Force’s ‘Advanced Battle Management System’, allowing the military to integrate and analyze data from space rather than from the more vulnerable command-and-control airplanes flying over enemy territory.

• Next year, AFRL plans to launch an experimental ‘cubesat’ satellite equipped with a ‘Link 16’ encrypted radio frequency data link, widely used on U.S. military and NATO aircraft and ground vehicles to share information, as a communications network relay in space. With “one of these Link 16 transponders (attached to) each of these low Earth orbit satellites, you would basically have Link 16 capability everywhere all the time,” said Felt.

• Private companies deploying broadband satellite constellations in low Earth orbit would be candidates for partnerships where these commercial satellites would also host government communications. The Defense Innovation Unit of the AFRL and the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center have been talking about setting up a ‘space commodities exchange’ where space services could be traded like commodities. “The space domain awareness data might be a great example of the kinds of things that the Space Force could purchase through a space commodities exchange,” said Felt.

 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force will be far smaller than the other military services but way more dependent on technology to do its job. While the Space Force will develop satellites and other technologies in-house, it also plans to follow the NASA playbook and team up with the private sector, said Col. Eric Felt, head of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate.

       Colonel Eric Felt

Speaking at a SpaceNews online event June 4, Felt said NASA’s commercial crew program is “super exciting” and one that the Space Force can learn from.

The launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on May 30 that took NASA astronauts to the International Space Station was the “culmination of perhaps the most successful private-public partnership of all times,” said Felt.

The Space Vehicles Directorate, located at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is one of the organizations that Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett agreed to transfer to the Space Force. Felt said his office will remain at its current location but approximately 700 people will be reassigned to the Space Force.

“The Space Force is going to be the most high tech of all of the services,” said Felt.

Public-private partnerships like NASA’s commercial crew deals with SpaceX and Boeing have saved NASA billions of dollars and serve as a “powerful model” that the Defense Department could adopt, said Felt.

1:02:30 video on military/corporate partnerships for Space Force (‘SpaceNewsInc’ YouTube)

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Copyright © 2019 Exopolitics Institute News Service. All Rights Reserved.