Breakthroughs in satellites’ capabilities have grabbed headlines across the decades — sending a TV signal from Point A to Point B, providing reliable navigation for warships, moving a data bundle — but only by expanding the reach of these technological leaps have the orbiting spacecraft achieved life-changing advances here on Earth. Telstar, the first telecommunications satellite, was designed to connect a point in New York with a point in Maine when it launched in 1962. Subsequent Telstar missions connected more points, and today, their successors have supplanted landlines to link all corners of the globe. Similar expansions in GPS, dating…
Apogee
THE WATCH STAFF An Italian admiral led a large delegation of NATO representatives on a three-day tour of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) and other military installations in Colorado in March 2025. The tour enhanced the trans-Atlantic relationship of the alliance and shared the scope of the U.S. operational capabilities in space and homeland defense. While in Colorado, the NATO Military Committee received briefings from top officials at USSPACECOM and NORAD. At USSPACECOM’s headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Gen. Stephen Whiting, USSPACECOM commander, and Royal Air Force…
The Space Force will require “a fundamental shift” in its funding levels to safeguard U.S. assets in space while also responding to recent Chinese and Russian investments in the domain, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said during a March 26 webcast at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “So, what I think we’re looking at is a fundamental shift, a step-function shift, in space capabilities through the Space Force budget, and if we don’t have that step function then we’re just doing the 3 or 4% inflation increases, and that doesn’t buy us capability,” Saltzman said during…
The U.S. Space Force capped an already significant milestone with the return to Earth of Col. Nick Hague after six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Guardian and astronaut splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on March 18. His flight, meanwhile, marked a tremendous achievement in the history of the Space Force, as Hague became the first active-duty Guardian to launch into space and one of the first astronauts to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. “I represent all those Guardians that are around the globe,” Hague said, according…
APOGEE STAFF Space interests across Europe eagerly awaited the first liftoff of Ariane 6, hoping for an end to a launch crisis that drove vital payloads to foreign companies, tested relations within the multinational European Space Agency, and raised national security questions for the leader of the French space command. Successor to the first commercial launch vehicle, the most reliable rocket of its time, Ariane 6 was delayed by a host of factors — cost overruns, the challenge of meeting its lofty technical goals and supply chain interruptions blamed in part on the COVID-19 pandemic. Development began in 2014, with…
REUTERS The United States has eased export restrictions on U.S. commercial space companies to ship certain satellite and spacecraft-related items to allies and partners. The changes, announced in October 2024, are intended to make it easier for the growing U.S. commercial space industry to expand sales while also protecting national security and foreign policy interests. U.S. space companies like SpaceX, and large defense contractors with space units, including Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies and Boeing, could benefit from the new rules. “As the diversity of commercial activity in space grows, these rules will reduce the burden for U.S. industry to continue…
APOGEE STAFF NATO launched plans in October 2024 to develop a military-grade satellite network for the Arctic to boost defenses against Russia. Thirteen countries agreed to push forward with the Northlink initiative to connect space-based communication systems across the Arctic using existing commercial satellites, Politico reported. Although NATO doesn’t operate its own satellites, it opened a dedicated space command center in Germany in 2019. Russia, which also borders the Arctic, has ramped up its operations in the region with warnings of jamming attacks on satellites in the area. Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and the United States all control Arctic territory…
APOGEE STAFF A wide-ranging cooperation agreement signed by Italy and the United States in October 2024 included the strengthening of national security ties in critical areas such as space domain awareness and commercial integration, according to the Breaking Defense website. “The U.S.-Italy Space Dialogue’s purpose is to strengthen cooperation and advance bilateral collaboration in space matters,” a joint statement by the countries declared. Italy launched its Space Operations Command in 2020 and is one of the few European countries operating its own fleet of military satellites. The Italian Ministry of Defence is developing an updated version of its Sicral telecommunications…
REUTERS A consortium of NATO allies in June 2024 confirmed the first tranche of companies awarded funding as part of the group’s $1.1 billion innovation fund, and artificial intelligence and space innovation were listed as key priorities. The alliance unveiled the fund in the summer of 2022, months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, promising to invest in technologies that would enhance its defenses. The fund is backed by 24 of NATO’s 32 members, including Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance in 2023 and 2024, respectively. One company NATO is investing in is Space Forge, a Welsh company that…
As space threats grow in sophistication and number, so do efforts by the nations of the world to resist them. For the European Union (EU) and its executive European Commission, a key component of these efforts falls to a Prague-based agency that tests and approves the standards for keeping space assets secure. The work of this agency, the Security Accreditation Board (SAB), is highly technical and largely classified. But what’s at stake is clear. “The EU is increasingly dependent on space-based assets and services for the functioning of its economy, its society and for security and defense,” the European External…