Reflections on the First U.S. Space Force Association Spacepower Conference

Reflections on the First U.S. Space Force Association Spacepower Conference

Taking the Space Force Seriously 

In December, Bradley Cheetham, CEO, Dave Jungkind, Chief Revenue Officer & Special Program Lead, and Bart Leahy, Senior Technical Writer, attended Spacepower. Dave Jungkind shares his perspective on Space Force in the industry. The United States Space Force (USSF) came into being December 20, 2019. Happy belated birthday to our newest service and Semper supra! This past month, The US Space Force Association (SFA), the industry and volunteer community of the Space Force, put together their first conference in Orlando: Spacepower. It was an engaging gathering and Advanced Space was honored to sponsor and attend the conference. (more…)

Advanced Space Awarded Contract to Deliver Air Force Research Laboratory’s Mission to the Moon

Advanced Space Awarded Contract to Deliver Air Force Research Laboratory’s Mission to the Moon

The Oracle spacecraft program will enable U.S. Space Force to support future NASA missions

Westminster, CO – Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company, announced that the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate, as part of a collaborative effort with AFRL’s Transformational Capabilities Office, has awarded the company a $72 million contract to deliver AFRL’s Oracle spacecraft program, previously called the Cislunar Highway Patrol System, or CHPS. Oracle will demonstrate space situational awareness, object detection and tracking in the regions around the Moon. Advanced Space is the prime contractor for Oracle, and is designing the mission approach, along with advanced navigation, tracking, and communication solutions for this challenging mission. (more…)

Utilization of Space-Based TDoA and FDoA for Cislunar Orbit Determination

Utilization of Space-Based TDoA and FDoA for Cislunar Orbit Determination

Presented at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) 2022 Conference

Michael R. Thompson, Matthew D. Popplewell, Bradley Cheetham

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates the potential observability benefits of space-based passive RF systems compared to other ground-based and space-based observers for cislunar Space Domain Awareness. TDoA and FDoA observations are used for orbit determination of objects in the lunar vicinity using observers in GEO and XGEO. The results are compared to ground-based observations in order to analyze the performance gains over existing architectures. Results show using space-based systems result in faster filter convergence and more accurate state estimates.

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Advanced Space, U.S. Air Force Sign Cooperative Agreement to Collaborate on Cislunar Activities

Westminster, CO (January 2022) Advanced Space LLC., a leading space solutions company, has entered into a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, and the Spacecraft Technology Division to share data collected from cislunar space through the CAPSTONE mission.

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“Cislunar Space” – Air Force Magazine

“Cislunar Space” – Air Force Magazine

The gap between Earth orbit and the moon is open, uncharted, and undefended.

Not much human activity has touched the moon or its surroundings in the half-century since American Apollo astronauts traversed the lunar landscape, but new concerns about China’s interests and motives have leaders in Washington viewing with worry the vast void of cislunar space.

China’s rapid evolution as a global space player and its announced intention to join with Russia in building a joint science base on the moon, raise concerns about what that kind of activity could yield in terms of future capacity to act and potentially wage war in space.

NASA plans to return American astronauts to the moon for longer periods to a base of its own, as the U.S. gears up its competitive drive in space. And governments and private entities the world over are eyeing the moon as a potential source of mineral wealth or as a place to position communication or space transportation hubs.

Cislunar space—that vast void between terrestrial orbits and the moon—represents both an opportunity and a threat because it is not only empty, for the most part, but essentially indefensible. At least for now.