FROM THE INSTITUTE
vLEO is emerging as a serious option in future space architectures for national security and commercial missions, panelists said at ASCEND 2026 on Wednesday. “It’s the perfect time for vLEO to be coming into its own,” said Spence Wise, senior vice president at Redwire, citing a convergence of technical readiness, operational demand, and commercial interest.
Tag: Space Force
Space Force Seeks More Innovations to Characterize Space Threats, General Says
FROM THE INSTITUTE
The Space Force, which is anticipating its biggest budget ever, must improve its “space domain awareness” as low Earth orbit becomes more crowded and adversaries pursue greater means to attack satellites and other assets, a top Space Force general told the ASCEND 2026 audience.
Space Force Considers Boosting Wallops Launch Cadence to Meet Commercial Demand
Defense Daily reports, “While the Space Force has used NASA’s site at Wallops Island, Va., to launch niche missions, including small-satellite orbital and sounding rocket hypersonic suborbital launches, the service may need to ensure that it is able to ramp up launches there significantly, the head of U.S. Space Command said on Thursday. Wallops “has been an amazing story over the last decade,” Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting told a Senate Armed Services Committee.”
Full Story (Defense Daily – Subscription Publication)
Space Force Adjusts Mission Schedule Amid Vulcan Uncertainty
Space News reports, “U.S. Space Force officials are working to reshuffle launch plans for a slate of national security missions after United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket was sidelined by a booster anomaly that could take months to resolve. At a March 25 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee, lawmakers pressed Pentagon officials on the fallout from the Feb. 12 launch issue, with Chairman Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R., Tenn.) pointing to what “will probably be at least a six month delay to any Vulcan launch.”
Full Story (Space News)
Space Force Eyes Faster Deployment of Space-Based Airborne Sensors
Breaking Defense reports, “The Space Force has seen positive results from experiments with space-based sensors to track airborne targets, and now is hoping to use incoming funds to speed capability to orbit, according to Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Space Force Pauses Vulcan Missions Supporting National Security Payloads
Breaking Defense reports, “The Space Force is holding off on launching further national security payloads aboard United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket until an anomaly observed during a recent military mission is resolved, according to a top service official. ‘We are going to work through this anomaly until we launch again on Vulcan,’ Col. Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force’s portfolio acquisition executive for assured access to space, said.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Rocket Lab Readies Electron for Space Force–NASA DiskSat Test Flight
Space News reports, “A U.S. Space Force and NASA experiment is set to launch later this week to test a new small-satellite architecture designed for operations in very low Earth orbit. Four flat, disk-shaped satellites known as DiskSats are scheduled to launch no earlier than 12:00 a.m. Eastern on Dec. 18 aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission, designated STP-S30, was accelerated from an initial target of spring 2026.”
Full Story (Space News)
Blue Origin to Build Payload Processing Facility at Cape Canaveral SFS
Aviation Week reports, “Blue Origin will build a new payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, under a U.S. Space Force contract announced Oct. 7. The service’s Space Systems Command (SSC) recently awarded the space technology company a $78.25 million contract under its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Space Vehicle Processing Commercial Solutions Opening contract, to help expand the Eastern Range’s rocket processing capacity by 2028, the command said in a release.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Space Force Announces SpaceX, ULA Assigned to First Set of Key Launches Beyond FY27
Breaking Defense reports, “The Space Force announced today that it has assigned the first seven future launches under its National Security Space Launch Program (NSSL) program for critical missions: five to SpaceX and two to United Launch Alliance (ULA). NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 launches carry high-value, must-go payloads and/or those headed to orbits that are more difficult to achieve. The Space Force is using firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery contracts for these types of launches.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Space Force Announces ATLAS Space Domain Awareness Software Now Operational
Breaking Defense reports, “The Space Force announced today that its software-centric program for managing, processing and disseminating space monitoring data, the Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System (ATLAS), has been accepted as ‘operational.’ The move paves the way for the service to finally rid itself of its dysfunctional 1980s-era computer system called the Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC), which as been used to keep tabs on satellites, spacecraft and dangerous space junk even after nearly two decades of failed replacement efforts.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)