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.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman requested $340,000,000 in the Space Force’s 2024 budget for an operational testing and training infrastructure.
SpaceX is projected to use a Falcon Heavy to launch the U.S. Space Force’s USSF-52 mission in July 2023.
The fully integrated Varda spacecraft has been shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base for launch on a commercial rideshare mission scheduled for no earlier than 2023-06-08.
Jim Cooper worked with Representative Mike Rogers in 2017 on a proposal to establish a space corps under the U.S. Department of the Air Force that passed the House and preceded the law creating the U.S. Space Force.
Landsat 9 was launched in September 2021 on an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Northrop Grumman manufactures the Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LDPE) bus, which the Space Force used to deploy experiments.
The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument launched on 2023-04-07 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The STP program uses the Space Force small launch program that awards STP missions under a multi-vendor contract known as OSP-4.
STEP 2.0 aims to advance the United States Space Force’s Science and Technology enterprise by procuring commercially developed spacecraft with demonstrated flight heritage to host DoD-sponsored payloads over the next 10 years.
Mike Tierney estimates spending on commercial space services is only a small fraction of the Space Force’s $30,000,000,000 budget.
The Pentagon’s funding proposal for fiscal year 2024 seeks $30,000,000,000 for the U.S. Space Force.
The Falcon 9 launch on 2023-05-04 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Astroscale U.S., CisLunar Industries, and Colorado State University received a $1,700,000 contract from the U.S. Space Force to develop a circular propulsion ecosystem based on recycling metal in space.
The Space Force plans to select two providers to fly as many as 40 missions projected for Lane 2.
The U.S. Space Force released a draft solicitation for National Security Space Launch Phase 3 launch contracts to be awarded in 2025.
Two additional O3b mPOWER medium Earth orbit satellites were launched for SES on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States at 6:12 p.m. local time on 2023-04-28.
The U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command stated that USSF-106 launch dates and impacts from the Centaur 5 test anomaly are under review pending the ULA investigation.
SpaceX launched a second pair of O3b mPower satellites for SES on 2023-04-28, lifting off at 6:12 p.m. Eastern on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
The USSF-106 mission was projected to launch in late 2023 but is likely to slip to 2024 due to a Centaur upper stage anomaly that remains under investigation.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two additional O3b mPOWER satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 6:12 pm local time on 28 April 2023.