U.S. Space Force
Every Cosmic Herald story on U.S. Space Force — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
-
Military Space
Space Force Bets on a Jam-Resistant Swarm: First Two PTS-G Satellites Ordered for $437.7M
The U.S. Space Force awarded Viasat and Intelsat General contracts totaling $437.7 million to build the first two operational PTS-G 'Swarm 1' satellites — small, maneuverable, dual-band anti-jam spacecraft meant to replace the aging AEHF fleet, with launch slated for 2028.
-
Commercial
A Chinese Spaceplane Just Released an Object Into Orbit — and Commercial Trackers Caught It
Commercial space surveillance firms independently detected a Chinese spaceplane deploying an object in orbit, underscoring the growing clout of private-sector space domain awareness.
-
Military Space
Rocket Lab Launches Victus Haze Satellite in Space Force's Most Ambitious Responsive Space Exercise Yet
Rocket Lab's Electron delivers a Space Force satellite for the Victus Haze exercise, testing whether the U.S. can rapidly deploy orbital assets when a crisis demands it.
-
Military Space
The Space Force Just Published a 15-Year Vision. Personnel, Simulators, and Survivability Top the List.
A 100-page roadmap called Objective Force lays out how the smallest military branch plans to quadruple its satellite fleet, grow headcount by 30%, and train for orbital combat through 2040.
-
Military Space
Northrop Grumman Says It Can Scale Solid Rocket Production — But Washington Has to Commit First
The solid rocket motor maker argues the industrial base is ready to ramp up, but short-term government contracts make it nearly impossible to justify the capital investment needed to do so.
-
Military Space
Space Force's Top Rapid-Acquisition Leader Decamps for Nuclear Weapons Center as Congress Rewrites the Playbook
Kelly Hammett's move from the Space Rapid Capabilities Office to Kirtland AFB comes as both chambers of Congress prepare to fold the agile procurement shop into a broader acquisition framework.
-
Commercial
SpaceX Flies Its First Falcon 9 as a Public Company. Almost Nothing Changed.
Two days after a record-setting Nasdaq debut that valued it near $2.1 trillion, SpaceX launched Starlink 17-54 from Vandenberg — its first Falcon 9 as a publicly traded company, and a routine flight that says a lot about why the IPO happened.
-
Military Space
Two More Jam-Resistant GPS Satellites: Inside the Space Force's $514M GPS IIIF Order
The Space Force ordered two more GPS IIIF satellites from Lockheed Martin for $514 million, pushing the next-gen order to 14 spacecraft and hardening the GPS constellation against jamming with M-Code, a digital payload, and regional power focusing.
-
Military Space
The Air Force Wants to Launch and Catch Rockets from Old Oil Platforms at Sea
A new Air Force initiative would transform decommissioned offshore oil rigs into sea-based rocket recovery stations — extending Space Force launch flexibility and reducing dependence on a handful of fixed land-based pads.
-
Military Space
The SDA's Transport Layer: America's Proliferated Military Satellite Constellation
The Space Development Agency is building a mesh network of hundreds of small military satellites in low Earth orbit — a fundamentally different approach to space-based command and control than anything the US has operated before.
-
Military Space
Space is already a battlefield. Ukraine showed us what that looks like.
The war in Ukraine has been the first large-scale test of satellite capabilities in peer conflict. GPS jamming, Starlink dependence, reconnaissance satellites, and Russian anti-satellite threats have all featured — and the lessons are reshaping military space doctrine worldwide.
-
Military Space
The Space Force is quietly replacing its aging satellite backbone. Here's what's new.
GPS III, Next Gen OPIR missile warning satellites, and the Evolved Strategic SATCOM program are replacing Cold War-era systems that have been showing their age. The upgrades are designed to survive a contested space environment that didn't exist when the original satellites were built.
