APOGEE STAFF Japanese researchers have created the world’s first wooden satellite to test the potential uses of timber for lunar and Mars exploration. The satellite, called LignoSat, was flown in November 2024 to the International Space Station (ISS), where it was deployed into orbit in December 2024. Developed by Kyoto University and Tokyo-based logging company Sumitomo Forestry, the palm-sized spacecraft will help researchers learn about the renewable material’s cosmic potential as humans investigate the possibility of living in space. “With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space…
Author: Apogee
APOGEE STAFF The Space Development Agency (SDA) is laying the groundwork to enlarge the military’s defense satellite constellation known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The agency has notified satellite manufacturers of its aim to solicit 200 satellites in 2025. The satellites, forming Tranche 3 of the architecture, would include upgrades over current Tranche 1 and 2 satellites. An arm of the U.S. Space Force, the SDA develops and deploys next-generation systems to help the military detect and counter advanced threats, including hypersonic missiles. It works closely with manufacturers to deliver systems at a rate faster and more cost-efficient…
APOGEE STAFF The electronic electromagnetic jamming system known as Meadowlands, which will help the U.S. Space Force defend against Chinese and Russian satellites, has been scheduled for delivery after two years of delays, the Space Force said. The system, developed by L3Harris Technologies Inc., is a lighter-weight mobile version of the military’s Counter Communications System (CCS). It was originally set for deployment in October 2022 but was delayed due to technical problems, according to Bloomberg News. In addition, a software upgrade was added to enable the system to jam more frequencies. As of September 2024, Meadowlands had completed all system-level…
APOGEE STAFF The harmful effects of direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) weapons are undeniable: clouds of debris hurtling around the planet, posing a threat to manned spacecraft and satellites. As European and U.S. leaders mull ways to engage more fully in space, they can claim common ground on space debris and DA-ASAT weapons. At the same time, they might give a nod to Russia for galvanizing the sides around the issue. The tipping point came in November 2021 when Moscow fired a Nudol A-235 missile at a defunct military satellite, shattering it into more than 1,800 pieces larger than 10 centimeters and…
APOGEE STAFF U.S.Space Command’s (USSPACECOM) Multinational Force-Operation Olympic Defender (MNF-OOD) aims to strengthen allies’ abilities to deter hostile acts in space, strengthen deterrence against hostile actors and reduce the spread of debris orbiting the Earth. In October 2024, the MNF-OOD took a significant step toward that goal with the additions of France and Germany. The longtime NATO allies’ entry into the coalition – which comes amid increasing militarization in space, particularly by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia – boosts multinational collaboration in space defense. “According to our assessment, multinational cooperation is key to security and defense in…
APOGEE STAFF More than a century ago, the man who would become known as the father of modern rocketry was a stargazing teenage boy with an unquenchable thirst for discovery. It was the fall of 1899, and Robert H. Goddard had just scaled a cherry tree at his home in Worcester, Massachusetts, before staring into the vastness of the sky. Inspired by the works of author H.G. Wells, Goddard wanted to be the scientist who would one day invent a device that would reach the red planet. “I looked toward the fields at the east,” he said, according to a…
COL. JÉRÔME DUFOUR, FRENCH AIR & SPACE FORCE (RESERVES) The brand-new NATO Space Centre of Excellence in Toulouse, France, received its official accreditation on July 14, 2023. Since then, the center has been actively working to expand its capabilities and grow its staff, supported by its 15 sponsoring nations. The center will work to improve the alliance’s expertise in the space domain, providing knowledge, analysis and products across three operational functions: space domain awareness, operational space support and space domain coordination. The primary role of a center of excellence is to assist NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) in Norfolk, Virginia,…
APOGEE STAFF The door is opening wider on collaboration in space defense between India and the United States, pushed in part by a host of projects in the civil realm that include global navigation satellites, space situational awareness, human space exploration and policies for commercial space. A working group on civil space dates to 2005, but developments in the past three years have accelerated the partnership and raised prospects for even closer ties between two nations with so much in common — as democracies and major space powers. For one thing, the U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group has added…
APOGEE STAFF They’re among the oldest of the so-called “zombie” spacecraft, human-made celestial objects that fly well past their prime: Famed observational or “flyby” spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2 are part of a narrow class of satellites that continue to fulfill at least some of their mandate, even decades after their liftoff. The twin satellites, launched in the late 1970s, still relay data back to Earth. But a time is approaching when the probes will no longer contribute to our understanding of outer space and end up drifting lifelessly through the cosmos. NASA reports that Voyager 1 is using backup…
APOGEE STAFF When the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) destroyed a ballistic missile headed for Israel’s southernmost town of Eilat on October 31, 2023, it triggered worldwide media chatter about a new era of space warfare. That’s because the intercept — according to multiple media outlets but never confirmed by the IDF — potentially occurred above the Kármán line, an invisible boundary 100 kilometers above sea level considered to be the beginning of space. Another point of interest was that the aggressor was not some great power with arsenals of space weapons but rather an Iran-funded military and political organization in…