Aerospace & Defense Roundup: Jul. 29

The British government has begun a consultation on regulations that will pave the way for space launches from UK soil in the early 2020s. The consultation supports secondary legislation within the UK’s 2018 Space Industry Act to control space launches from the UK as well as the process of procuring a UK space launch and operating a satellite.

Jim Bridenstine

U.S. Space Command (Spacecom) is partnering with U.S. Cyber Command by offering a planning element to implement cyber protection and capabilities or space expertise. The integrated planning team ensures Spacecom thinks about cybersecurity from the beginning, Spacecom deputy chief Lt. Gen. James Dickinson said July 28 during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Dickinson is President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Spacecom.

F-16

KC-46

A new report on the space industrial base discusses the catastrophic impact the spread of the novel coronavirus has had on space companies and how the global pandemic provides a dangerous opportunity for China and Russia to challenge or surpass the U.S. in space. Specifically, COVID-19 sets the stage for near-peer competitors to challenge the U.S. in the space domain by acquiring companies and intellectual property or maintaining investments while private industry is hurting, according to the report authored by officials from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Defense Innovation Unit and Space Force.

The numbers were provided by Jennifer Edmunson, a planetary geologist and the Jacobs Space Exploration Group In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) lead for In-Space Manufacturing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The quantities are likely to increase as the separation between Earth and future explorers rise as they reach out to settle the Moon and Mars.

First F-15EX in final assembly

The U.S. Marine Corps started operating leased MQ-9As only three months ago as a surveillance aircraft, but is already considering other roles as purchased versions of the aircraft enter the fleet next year. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) plans to audition the medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system (UAS) next year to carry two newly-developed airborne networking pods.