For more than six decades, the United States military has relied on a quiet workhorse on orbit: the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Designed during the Cold War and first launched in 1962, the satellite constellation has far outlived its expected lifespan, continuing to provide crucial weather intelligence for military planners even as newer systems slowly begin to take its place. Originally intended to provide global weather imagery to support military operations, DMSP satellites monitor cloud cover, ocean conditions and atmospheric activity from sun-synchronous polar orbits about 830 kilometers above Earth. Their sensors capture visible, infrared and microwave data used…
Apogee
For seven decades, each spacecraft in the DMSP has circled Earth about 14 times a day, providing crucial weather data to military and civilian agencies. Here’s what comes next — and why it’s important. Forecast first “Every military mission begins with a weather briefing; terrestrial weather, space weather, or both. The data required to generate forecasts for our forces is largely dependent on complex models, and approximately 95 percent of the data that feeds these models comes from space-based sensors or ground-based observatories looking into space.” ~ Air Force testimony to Congress, 2019 Turning to partners Some future capacity will…
DMSP-14 lifts off aboard a Titan 23G rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in April 1997. The story of DMSP-14 highlights the sweep and longevity of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Decommissioned in February 2020, DMSP-14 provided global weather data to the U.S. and its allies for more than 22 years and completed 118,052 orbits around Earth. DMSP satellites were designed to operate just three to five years each. The program served military customers at first until it was expanded to civilian use. More than 40 satellites made up the DMSP system, with the first launch taking place in…
Overlap in the development of space capabilities presents a host of opportunities for expanded cooperation between NASA and the Department of War (DOW), the head of the nation’s civilian space agency said. “NASA’s mission and national security are inseparable,” agency Administrator Jared Isaacman told the National Security Space Association’s Defense and Intelligence Space Conference in February 2026. Both NASA and the DOW, along with agencies including the Department of Commerce, were directed to pursue several actions aimed at strengthening national security, streamlining programs and aligning partnerships with policy in a December 2025 White House executive order titled “Ensuring American Space…
The Kennedy Space Center in March celebrated what might be called the birth of the space age, when a small rocket rose from a snowy field in Massachusetts a century ago. On March 16, 1926, working nearly alone, inventor Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket and proved that controlled liquid propulsion was possible. Up until then, black powder or gunpowder — uncontrollable once released — shot rockets and missiles skyward. Goddard’s invention opened the door to satellites, human spaceflight, lunar missions and today’s journeys toward Mars, the Kennedy Space Center noted on its website. The spaceport’s visitor…
Even in an industry that’s defined by them, high-level corporate mergers with national security implications marked the start of 2026 for commercial space. Autonomous weapons manufacturer Anduril announced in March that it has signed an agreement to buy ExoAnalytic Solutions and what the company calls the world’s largest commercial optical telescope network. ExoAnalytic provides space domain awareness products to defense, intelligence and commercial satellite operators, in part through its global network of 350-plus autonomous telescopes. Anduril has secured billions of dollars in U.S. government contracts, including a recent $642 million deal to send aerial system technology to the Marine Corps.…
The classified work of surveillance satellites in geosynchronous orbit is the latest segment of military space flagged for a fast-track procurement approach in the face of rising capabilities from U.S. adversaries. The satellites of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, first acknowledged by military leaders in 2014, typify the system designed to watch other man-made objects on orbit. Prime contractor Northrop Grumman and its predecessors Orbital ATK and Orbital Services built the satellites. They orbit at 36,000 kilometers altitude. Now, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is seeking proposals for companies to build and operate the satellites and then transfer them…
It’s one of Hollywood’s most heart-pounding depictions of fighting in space. With the shield generators aboard the second Death Star finally disabled, pilot Lando Calrissian pushes the Millennium Falcon past platoons of imperial TIE fighters and through nooks and crannies on the surface of the giant sphere to destroy its core, then speeds off as the whole thing explodes in flames behind him. “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” second in the original film trilogy, represented pure good-versus-evil escapist fantasy and helped redefine blockbusters with its special effects and appealing characters. Suspend any notion of reality, each of the films advised…
Seven years ago, the United States-based rocket company SpaceX launched 60 satellites into orbit with a Falcon 9 rocket, signaling the start of a fierce battle for space-based internet supremacy and providing hope that the world’s underserved markets would enter the digital age. The launch marked a major leap forward for worldwide internet access and led to a new moniker — the megaconstellation — for what would become the most ubiquitous objects in space. At the time of the May 2019 launch, fear of the unknown still weighed on project backers. Even SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk sounded a…
Make it appealing for private industry to bring the latest space innovations to the military and strengthen the nation’s warfighting capability. That’s the thinking behind the creation of the hub known as the U.S. Space Force Front Door. Easy to describe, but it’s a tall order to accomplish in a system built on partnering with a few major contractors. Long after the Pentagon set out to expand commercial integration, and nearly three years after the creation of this Space Force welcome mat, United States War Secretary Pete Hegseth told commanders in a January 2026 memo that it wasn’t working: “Industry…