The U.S. Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, established in December 2019. Its primary role is to organize, train, and equip space forces to protect U.S. and allied interests in space by ensuring space superiority. The USSF manages space launch operations, satellite operations, space environment surveillance, and satellite defense, and partners with organizations like NASA on space domain awareness and planetary defense. Key areas of focus include missile warning, satellite communications, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The 2024-03-04 launch marked the Space Force’s second attempt to deploy the weather-imaging mission after an initial satellite failed to separate from its launch vehicle.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:05 p.m. Eastern on the Transporter-10 mission.
A small satellite mission funded by the U.S. Space Force to provide weather data from low Earth orbit launched to orbit on 2024-03-04.
The contracted Ambassador Class platforms will integrate payloads onto ESPA-Grande size space vehicle platforms to support specific United States Space Force missions.
Axelspace Corporation launched the demonstration satellite PYXIS on 2024-03-04 (PST) on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA.
MethaneSAT launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
The Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer and the Space Force’s Epoch 1 MEO satellites are focused primarily on tracking with some limited missile-warning capability.
L3Harris designed an infrared sensor satellite for the U.S. Space Force Medium Earth Orbit Missile Warning and Tracking program that completed a preliminary design review on 2024-03-04 and is on track for critical design review in 2024.
The Space Force's Doctrine 2.0, released in July 2023, focuses on intelligence gathering from space-based assets.
The Space Force's updated Joint Publication 3-14 defines SPACECOM's Area of Responsibility from 100 kilometers above mean sea level to exgeosynchronous orbit, including cislunar space.
The Space Force issued a new mission statement in September 2023 to secure US interests in space.
SpaceX launched the PYXIS demonstration satellite on the Transporter-10 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on 2024-03-04 (PST).
The Space Force could buy as many as 18 additional satellites in Epoch 2 of the MEO Missile Warning and Tracking program.
Falcon 9 launched Transporter-10 on 2024-03-03 at 2:05 p.m. PT from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
In September 2023, the Space Force launched a satellite called Victus Nox within 27 hours of receiving orders.
The Space Force aims to demonstrate faster satellite replacement capabilities by 2025 with an initiative called Victor Haze.
The Space Force's Comprehensive Strategy Report submitted in August 2023 aims to ensure US freedom of access and operation in space.
The Space Force launched the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on a Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in December 2023.
Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage for the Crew-8 mission was planned to land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Congress added $442,000,000 for a wideband satellite despite the Space Force not requesting funding for such a satellite in its 2023 budget.