| | | | |  Sandra Erwin — Space advocates on Capitol Hill have pounded the Air Force for the slow pace of modernization. The four-star general in charge of Air Force Space Command says the message has been heard loud and clear.
"We need to move faster," Gen. John "Jay" Raymond said Sept. 20 at the Air Force Association's Air Space Cyber conference in National Harbor, Maryland. "And we are taking steps to be able to do that." The Air Force is convinced that acquisition programs would move faster if the chain of command were simplified, he said. Service leaders have asked the Pentagon to delegate milestone decision authority to the Air Force for critical programs, for instance. "We are pushing down to the lowest levels we can the authority on acquisition programs," said Raymond. | | |  Michael Fabey — With the recent development of the first space warfighting concepts of operation, U.S. Air Force space leaders are focusing more on development on better space situational awareness.
"We have to keep track of every object in space," Gen John "Jay" Raymond, commander, Air Force Space Command, said Sept. 20 during a media roundtable discussion at the annual Air Force Association Air Space Cyber conference here. He took special notice of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) to characterize and track objects in space, pointing out the service recently accepted two new operational satellites, which recently completed required tests, into the space awareness network. | | |  Caleb Henry — The first 400 flat-panel antennas developed by Redmond, Washington-based Kymeta Corp. have been shipped to customers in the past months as the company predicts 2018 to be the year when the long-awaited technology starts making impacts across a range of sectors that have not used satellite links before.
Speaking at the VSAT Global conference in here Sept. 20, Kymeta's chief commercial officer Bill Marks said the company has received thousands of orders of its 70-centimeter Ku antennas and will start mass production next week on an assembly line in California. "We have antennas in eight different platforms, in five different verticals, most of which are mobile, one is fixed," Marks said. "We are seeing antennas going on trains, buses, boats and automobiles, construction sites, first responders and agriculture." | | |  Jeff Foust — An aging German-American Earth science mission will come to an end this fall, months before the launch of a next-generation satellite pair.
In a statement Sept. 14, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced it expected the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite duo to make its last science observations in November, more than 15 years after their launch. That assessment comes after recent problems with one of the twin spacecraft, designated GRACE-2. Controllers lost contact with the spacecraft Sept. 4, a day after the eighth of 20 battery cells on the spacecraft failed. They restored communications with GRACE-2 on Sept. 8, found that the failed battery cell was back to full voltage and concluded that the spacecraft could continue operating. | | |  Brian Weeden — "Space traffic management" is the cyber security of the space world. It is a hugely important public policy issue that underpins the successful future expansion of space activities, yet there is no agreement on its definition.
Experts continue to propose alternative terms that may be more technically precise, but consistently fail to catch on with policymakers or the public. And at its core, space traffic management is a "super wicked" public policy problem that involves balancing an indefinable set of technical, legal, and economic variables; conflicting interests and worldviews of many stakeholders; and a complex political environment with diffuse responsibilities and authorities. But with estimates of 16,000 or more satellites on the drawing board to be launched in the next decade, it is not a problem we can continue to kick down the road. | | |  Jeff Foust — Stratolaunch announced Sept. 19 that the company has achieved another milestone in the development of a unique giant aircraft that will serve as a launch platform.
The company said that it successfully tested at its Mojave, California, facility the six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 turbofan jet engines that will power the aircraft. Each engine is capable of producing 56,750 pounds-force of thrust. The engines came from two Boeing 747 jetliners that Stratolaunch acquired as part of the development of the one-of-its-kind plane. The engines, the company said in a statement, were put through a series of tests, including one where the engines were started one at a time and allowed to idle. "In these initial tests, each of the six engines operated as expected," the company said. | | |  Jeff Foust — The nominee to be the next administrator of NASA says that he believes the agency's top challenges include maintaining "consistency and constancy of purpose" that can support long-term plans, while building up international and commercial relationships.
Those opinions were expressed by Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), formally nominated Sept. 5 to be NASA administrator, in a questionnaire he submitted to the Senate Commerce Committee. That 32-page document, signed Sept. 11, was recently posted by the committee on its website in advance of a confirmation hearing expected as soon as next week. Among the questions posed by the committee to Bridenstine was, "What do you believe to be the top three challenges facing the department/agency, and why?" "Maintaining consistency and constancy of purpose while establishing a consensus agenda that can bridge multiple administrations regardless of party," he responded in the first of three bullet points. "This is essential to avoid resource-wasting program cancellations and maintain high morale both within the Agency and its contractor workforce." | | | Winners will be featured in the Dec. 18 issue of SpaceNews. - We seek to honor headline-grabbing breakthroughs as well as outside-the-limelight innovations that may have escaped our attention.
- A formal announcement on the awards program — including eligibility, criteria, and selection process — will be made in September.
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