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 U.S. Space Force plans to select one or more teams to launch an EWS demonstration mission in 2023.
The COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
An imaging sensor developed by EO Vista for U.S. Space Force weather satellites passed a key design review on 2022-01-31.
A Falcon 9 was scheduled to launch a National Reconnaissance Office classified payload from Vandenberg Space Force Base on 2022-02-02.
On 2021-11-01, the U.S. Space Force 18th Space Control Squadron cataloged a new object alongside Shijian-21 with the international designator 2021-094C.
The GPS constellation consists of 31 satellites that orbit the Earth at an altitude of 20,0 m and are operated by the U.S. Space Force.
Shijian-21 returned to geostationary orbit after undocking from Beidou-2 G2, according to tracking data from the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron.
The U.S. Space Force’s GPS program office is developing a space threat plan to evaluate the survivability of the entire GPS enterprise in a contested space environment that includes kinetic engagements, cyber, electromagnetic spectrum fires, nuclear, and directed energy weapons.
The GOES-T satellite is scheduled to launch 2022-03-01 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Two Northrop Grumman Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites named GSSAP-5 and GSSAP-6 were launched into orbit on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of the USSF-8 mission.
United Launch Alliance scheduled its next launch as the GOES-T mission for NASA on 2022-03-01 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
The USSF-8 flight was the first and only planned flight of the Atlas 5 in the 511 configuration.
The USSF-8 mission was the third ULA Atlas V rocket launch supported by Northrop Grumman’s 63-inch-diameter Graphite Epoxy Motor (GEM 63) solid rocket booster.
Space Systems Command, together with United Launch Alliance and its mission partners, launched the fifth and sixth Northrop Grumman-built Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites on 2022-01-21 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
GSSAP-5 and GSSAP-6 will provide space domain awareness data to the National Space Defense Center at Schriever Space Force Base and other national users to enhance safe navigation within the GEO belt.
The GSSAP system operated by the U.S. Space Force provides precise GEO-based space domain awareness data seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launched the USSF-8 mission on 2022-01-21.
The GEM 63 solid rocket booster provided nearly a third of the total thrust at liftoff for the Atlas V on the USSF-8 mission.
The USSF-8 mission launched to an orbit approximately 22,0 m above the equator.
The USSF-8 mission launched on an Atlas V 511 configuration rocket that included a 5-meter short payload fairing.