That might now seem like a particularly interesting or insightful thing to say. It could come off as simple pandering to a room full of satellite professionals. But it’s quite true and becoming increasingly obvious to even the casual observer. At a time when space exploration and advancements in space and satellite technology are no longer dominating the news or making headlines, we’ve quietly seen a huge resurgence in both interest and investment in space.

That interest isn’t just on behalf of the federal government, either. A new generation of satellites and new satellite technologies are opening the door for satellite to deliver the IT services that many with high speed broadband connections take for granted to every corner of the globe. Advances in technology and robotics are also creating smaller, cheaper satellites and even satellites that can service and refuel other satellites. All the while, the emergence of new companies in the commercial launch space is making access to space cheaper.

The industry is rapidly evolving, and that change is generating a lot of excitement across the government, military and the industry itself. We’re excited to document these changes and chronicle where the industry goes next.

Here are some of the most interesting satellite articles that we saw in the past few weeks, which prove that satellite is one of the busiest and most interesting industries today:

US Air Force to put sensors on allies’ satellites
Every government-focused satellite conference or event that we  attend eventually hits on the topic of mission assurance in space and defending our satellite infrastructure. It’s become an essential topic and major challenge for our military as adversaries have grown increasingly capable of denying satellite communications and capabilities, and our warfighters have grown ever more reliant on IT-enabled tools and services.

This article in Defense One discusses steps that our military is taking to help ensure mission assurance in space, and it’s something that we’ve discussed frequently in the past on the Government Satellite Report – hosted payloads.

We’ve speculated in the past that putting military payloads on other satellites – including commercial satellites – could make it harder for adversaries to target and deny satellite capabilities, and that’s exactly what the military is looking to do. However, instead of just using commercial satellites, they’re placing sensors on satellites belonging to our allies.

This is an exciting step that – if proven useful – could expand to the military placing sensors and transponders on commercial satellites with increased frequency in the future. The benefit would be an integrated satellite architecture of commercial, allied and military-owned satellites that would be almost impossible to fully compromise and that could very quickly fill military satellite requirements should a military satellite be denied.

ESA and SES-led consortium to develop satellite-based cybersecurity
The military has other concerns about the safety and security of satellites and satellite communications aside from the jamming of satellites or adversaries shooting them down. One of those concerns involves cybersecurity and satellite signals being intercepted or altered.

You could imagine the chaos and problems that could emerge for U.S. soldiers if they received inaccurate information via satellite from one of our adversaries, or if their locations or other sensitive information was intercepted. This is the reality that the military is looking to avoid.

Well, the European Space Agency (ESA) and a consortium of satellite providers and satellite technology companies are now teaming up in an effort to increase the security of satellites and satellite communications. The consortium, which is being led by satellite communications provider, SES, will seek to develop, “a system that will allow the generation of encryption keys from space, as well as their secure transmission to users on Earth via laser.”

The system has been named the Quantum Cryptography Telecommunication System (QUARTZ), and it is intended to be, “a new platform aimed at providing a global service for next-generation encryption keys for use in geographically dispersed networks. “

Defense Department turning over space traffic management to Commerce, but details still unclear
All of that excitement and new activity in space that we mentioned before comes with a price. There are 1,500 active satellites in orbit already, and there are new satellite companies out there proposing to launch constellations that will add thousands more across multiple orbits.

Every one of those new satellites creates a new challenge for the folks that work to ensure that satellites don’t hit each other and that traffic and congestion in space doesn’t result in the same kind of calamities as traffic and congestion on our roads and highways.

To this end, the DoD has announced that it will be turning over the management of space traffic to an unlikely new ally, the Department of Commerce. Details on the transition remain somewhat unclear and it’s not entirely known how and when the transition will be completed, but it’s a move that many in the industry are considering a positive step forward that will help encourage continued private investment in space.

As Doug Loverro, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy told SpaceNews. “The good news is that several years ago this same committee was clearly against DoD ever losing control of this vital function. So I would say that this represents true progress in moving this inherently civil function to a civil agency.”

The post An exciting time for space means exciting satellite news appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

In his position with the Department of Defense (DoD), Mr. Kitay is responsible for establishing policy and guidance for the assurance of space capabilities for both our nation and our allies. He also helps guide DoD strategy for addressing space-related issues, and leads DoD activities in international space cooperation. Needless to say, Mr. Kitay is well positioned with his finger on the pulse of the Nation’s current and future space architecture, policy development and implementation and the associated national space and security implications.

The theme of Mr. Kitay’s address was, “A Strategy for Protecting and Advancing our Vital Interests in Space,” a theme that has been repeated frequently at many of the space conferences that we’ve attended in the past few years. But before breaking into the familiar messaging about the need to defend our nation’s space capabilities, Mr. Kitay discussed why right now is a very exciting time for satellites and space.

Government gives space its due
According to Mr. Kitay, the space and satellite field has, “an energy and excitement that is nothing short of remarkable.” As for the reasons why there is so much energy around space and satellites, Mr. Kitay chalked it up to two separate factors: technology advancements and attention from the very top of the government.

“We could spend an entire day talking about all of the technology changes that are happening directly within the space sector or outside of the space sector that are being applied to it,” Mr. Kitay explained. “Space is getting a lot of attention these days. Our most senior levels of government – from our President to Congress to the recently-instated National Space Council – are all focused on U.S. leadership in space across all sectors – National Security, Civil and Commercial.”

Mr. Kitay went on to explain that the attention being paid to space and satellites from the brass of the military and federal government wasn’t just talk, but had the added validity of additional investment and budget dollars. As Mr. Kitay explained, “From a DoD space perspective, the President’s budget included an additional $1B in this year’s budget request and an additional $8B over a five year planning period for space.”

But that attention, energy and interest in space and satellites isn’t just because there are new technologies being brought to bear in the industry. It has a lot to do with the changing space environment and the increased threats to our space infrastructure. This brings us to a very familiar topic in the industry.

Adversaries in space
Mr. Kitay did an excellent job of laying out the current challenge facing the DoD in space when he said, “While there are a multitude of friendly international activities and partnerships in space, there is also – unfortunately – a very serious scope and growing maturity of foreign counter-space capabilities. Hands-down, this is the most significant change in space from a DoD perspective. Because of these threats, space is not a sanctuary and we have now recognized space as a warfighting domain. As a result, we need to be prepared to treat it as such.“

This isn’t a new topic. Rather, it’s a topic that has dominated the military space and satellite conversation for what seems like years. However, there is a very good reason for the military to be taking this seriously, as warfighters have grown increasingly reliant on satellite services and IT tools that satellites enable. U.S. adversaries have grown increasingly capable of denying satellite capabilities to these warfighters.

Mr. Kitay laid out multiple different ways in which the DoD is looking to improve assurance, including, “through resilience, defensive operations, reconstitution and…even…satellite servicing.” But made it clear that attaining assurance was both essential and complex when he said, “We must assure our space capabilities so that we’re prepared to prevail in any environment and against any threat. Let me underscore that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to space mission assurance. Just as there are a variety of threats and a variety of missions to perform, we are going to need a variety of capabilities, tactics and techniques to achieve our mission.”

However, there is one way that mission assurance can be improved and according to Mr. Kitay, this gave for the increased excitement around satellites and space – new technology.

Commercial blazes a path to assurance
Taking advantage of innovation from the satellite industry is one way that the military can improve mission assurance quickly and effectively. Utilizing Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary (GEO) HTS satellite constellations from commercial satellite providers that incorporate the latest in satellite technologies can mitigate the potential for adversaries to deny the military satellite capabilities in a number of ways.

First, these satellites are – by their nature – more difficult to jam, and jamming remains one of the easiest and most effective ways for adversaries to deny satellite capabilities. As Doug Loverro, Mr. Kitay’s predecessor as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, recently said, “Cyber attack against a variety of communications networks is a difficult challenge. But the far simpler thing that Russia can do. That North Korea can do. That Iran can do. That Botswana can do. That some guy in the middle of a field with a TV truck can do…is jamming. Jamming is very hard to protect against, unless you have the right equipment.”

But there is more to commercial services than simply protecting against jamming. They also provide other benefits by simply distributing and disaggregating military communications across multiple satellite constellations and providers – making it harder for adversaries to specifically target satellites carrying military signals, and even harder to deny them by compromising a single satellite.

As Mr. Kitay made abundantly clear, the threat of adversaries impacting our nation’s satellites remains the largest and most essential challenge for the DoD to overcome. Thankfully, new satellite technologies, led by the commercial industry, are doing more than drumming up excitement for space – they’re providing the Department of Defense with a clear and capable set of solutions able to effectively improve our National Security Space architecture.

MEO and HTS constellations are the latest commercial innovations being embraced by the federal government, capable of securely delivering fiber-like bandwidth to practically anywhere on the planet. For additional information on these solutions, download the following resources:

• High Throughput on the High Seas
• White Paper: Satellite Evolution Sparks a Service Revolution
• High Throughput Satellites for U.S. Government Applications
• White Paper On O3b “Fiber Like” Satellite Communications for U.S. Government Applications

The post AFA breakfast paints space as exciting but challenging domain for the DoD appeared first on SES Space and Defense.