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 Space Force's acquisition strategy emphasizes building smaller satellites and ground systems while minimizing non-recurring engineering.
Frank Calvelli is the U.S. Space Force’s top procurement official and assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration.
Calvelli wants the Space Force to adopt the Space Development Agency’s strategy for acquiring small satellites using fixed-price contracts.
The Space Force hopes to begin using OCX next year.
The Space Force plans to continue some traditional procurements of large geostationary satellites for missile-warning and military communications.
The U.S. Space Force plans to procure 27 missile-defense satellites for a medium Earth orbit constellation using an acquisition model similar to the Space Development Agency’s.
The U.S. Space Force took over operation of ground stations that receive data from infrared sensor satellites previously operated by the U.S. Army.
U.S. Space Force Col. Richard Kniseley, head of Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office (COMSO), will deliver the keynote at the SpaceNews 2023 Icon Awards on 2023-12-05 in Washington.
Rogue Space Systems received a total of $7,500,000 in awards from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force over the past 18 months.
The Transport Layer is a global communications network in low Earth orbit being established by the Space Development Agency, a U.S. Space Force organization.
Over the five years of the NSSL Phase 2 contract, the U.S. Space Force will have ordered a total of 48 missions.
USSF-67 launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in January 2023.
SILENTBARKER 2/NROL-118 is a joint National Reconnaissance Office and U.S. Space Force mission to provide space domain awareness for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.
On 2023-10-29 at 2:00 a.m. PT a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Space Force selected ULA’s Vulcan Centaur to launch all Phase 2 missions.
SpaceX’s upcoming NSSL missions include USSF-52, which was awarded in 2018 and is not part of Phase 2.
The Phase II contract from AFWERX is the third contract Rogue Space Systems received in recent weeks and brings Rogue’s total USAF and USSF awards to $7,500,000 over the past 18 months.
USSF-25 will launch DARPA’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) nuclear thermal spacecraft.
On 2023-10-30 at 7:20 p.m. ET a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
STP-5 is a Space Test Program mission for the U.S. Space Force that will launch two satellites in support of the Department of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office.