
Space Force taps Muon for 3 prototype weather satellites
The award will fund modification of the company's multispectral infrared imaging payload, Quickbeam, "to add additional spectral bands" to meet military environmental monitoring needs.
The award will fund modification of the company's multispectral infrared imaging payload, Quickbeam, "to add additional spectral bands" to meet military environmental monitoring needs.
"[O]n the ops floor, [ATLAS is] generating a catalog — it's publishing data to Space-track.org They're using that as a primary system," Space Systems Command's Shannon Pallone said in an exclusive interview.
While the Pentagon has funded experimental re-fueling efforts, RG-XX is the first official acquisition program to have a refueling requirement.
Space Systems Command expects to issue a draft request for proposal by the end of the calendar year, a Space Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
Space Systems Command is prototyping a Joint Antenna Marketplace to offload some of the SCN's burden and expand its capacity by using existing commercial and non-DoD agency antennas, rather than building costly new ones for the network.
The three new Space Systems Command (SSC) system deltas in the pipeline will be responsible for acquisitions related to space combat power, assured access to space and positioning, navigation and timing, SSC Commander Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant told Breaking Defense.
The reorganization of the JCO will involve two elements: setting up processes for JCO to provide commercial space monitoring data directly to operators and establishing an acquisition pathway for that data.
DARC has been plagued with delays almost since its inception, according to a series of annual studies by the Government Accountability Office.
The Protected Tactical Satellite Communications-Global awards are representative of a wider shift in Space Force acquisition strategy aimed at using commercial tech to speed new capabilities to the field.
The move is part of a long-running effort by Space Systems Command to reorganize acquisition programs along mission area lines, syncing up with the structure of the service's main operational arm, Space Operations Command.
The MILNET contract with SpaceX is being paid for by the Space Force but managed by the National Reconnaissance Office, sources said.
"Space Systems Command intends to award a second vendor, but the quantity will depend on the selected vendor’s proposal. The timing and scope of that award is subject to the outcomes of the on-going FY26 budget deliberations," Col. Rob Davis, SSC's head of Space Sensing program, told Breaking Defense.
Space Systems Command (SSC) in recent weeks has issued a flurry of contracts for the key hardware and software "thrusts" that make up the FORGE program, following a restructuring in 2023 that broke the effort into more manageable pieces.
HSA is aimed at creating a "hack-proof" internet in space comprising commercial and government SATCOM birds to underpin the Defense Department's Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control concept to link sensors and shooters in real time.