First Missile Warning Satellite Launch to MEO Slips, But More to Come

The Pentagon is basing its future space-based architecture on optical communications technology. By Greg Hadley, Published by Air and Space Forces, 1 July 2025 The Space Force’s first planned satellite launch to begin a new missile warning constellation in medium-Earth orbit has slipped from late 2026 to spring 2027 as

Read More

Space-Based Laser Links Are Taking Center Stage

The Pentagon is basing its future space-based architecture on optical communications technology. Credit: Steven Puetzer/Getty Images By Vivienne Machi, Published by Aviation Week, 25 March 2025 Today’s satellites collect more data than can be efficiently transmitted via traditional radio-frequency methods. As governments and companies build constellations with hundreds or even

Read More

Chinese scientists take a step closer to 6G with optical switch

To address demands, networks need to become three-dimensional in the future By Ameya Paleja, Published by Interesting Engineering, 16 October 2023 Scientists at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully tested optical switching in space for the first time, South China Morning

Read More

SDA asks industry for 100 satellites in latest move toward ‘global’ data constellation

The Space Development Agency will begin launching its first operational data transport satellites in 2024, part of the Space Force’s effort to build a space version of the internet. (Image: Northrop Grumman) By Theresa Hitchens, Published by Breaking Defense, 29 June 2023 The plan is to grant two contractors Other

Read More

Orbit of Babel: SDA developing ‘translators’ to get data from ISR sats to warfighters

The Space Development Agency will begin launching its Tranche 1 Transport Layer communications mesh network in 2024. (Image: Northrop Grumman) By Theresa Hitchen, Published by Breaking Defense, 26 October 2022 "Translator" payloads are necessary because many of today's commercial remote sensing providers do not, and will not, have the ability

Read More

US needs to temper reliance on at-risk-undersea internet cables, satellites can help: Arospace

By Theresa Hitchens, Published by Breaking Defense, 3 February 2022 "Undersea cable infrastructure is ripe for sabotage," said Karen Jones, one of the authors of the study. WASHINGTON: Some 430 undersea fiber optic cables carry 99% of intercontinental internet traffic, and those lifelines of global commerce are highly vulnerable to

Read More