President Trump announced June 18 that he has told the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to start forming a space force to ensure U.S. space dominance, but a key lawmaker insisted that DOD cannot proceed without congressional approval. “Very importantly, I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary…

The European Commission (EC), seeking to assert more control over European space policy, regulation and governance, has published a proposal for a regulation establishing the EU space program and the EU Agency for the Space Program. EU Space Program This column has often made the case that the space industry has the potential to stimulate…

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will develop a proof of concept system to enable satellite communication roaming capability for the U.S. government, under a $2.6 million contract. The system will increase capacity, resilience and responsiveness of the wideband satcom network and will enable users to roam, in a similar way to cellphone users, across multiple…

Harris Corporation has delivered an environmental monitoring sensor for the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSAT-2), which will significantly enhance Japan’s ability to monitor greenhouse gases from space. The Harris-built Thermal and Near Infrared Sensor for Carbon Observation-Fourier Transform Spectrometer-2 (TANSO-FTS-2) will measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The newly built instrument will collect high-spectral resolution…