Space & Cybersecurity Newsletter - April 2021
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
House bill lays groundwork for Space National Guard
Colorado legislators have introduced HB21-1231, which would allow for their Air National Guard space units "to transition to the Space National Guard'' once the federal government finalized the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The Act is likely to include a Space National Guard nationwide. The Colorado legislation would allow for the retention of talent of airmen and soldiers already working on space-related missions. California is working on a similar task with more details to be released at a later date.
Space Force unveils plans for Space Systems Command
Replacing the Space Missile Systems Center (SMC), the U.S. Space Force will restructure its acquisitions organization under the new Space Systems Command (SSC). The SSC will be headquartered at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, and will be responsible for "developing, acquiring, fielding, and sustaining space capabilities." All SMC units will transition into the SSC, and the Strategic Warning and Surveillance Systems Division will transition from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center to the SSC.
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS
Dubai's Courts of Space launches international working group
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) announced the formation of an international working group tasked with providing a perspective on space-related disputes, specifically regarding the commercial sector. The Working Group will consist of public and private sector bodies and experts including officials from the DIFC courts, Dubai Future Foundation, US Department of Commerce, and the UAE Space Agency. It will also have observers from The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). “While space law is nothing new, an important next step will be for the Courts of Space initiative to develop and establish the DIFC Courts as a commercial go-to court for these matters,” says Zaki Azmi, chief justice, DIFC Courts.
New reports highlight Russian, Chinese advances in space weapons
On April 1, 2021, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Secure World Foundation (SWF) released their annual reports on international space efforts, highlighting global developments in anti-satellite weapons. Anti-satellite weapons can be kinetic systems like missiles or electronic weapons such as jammers. Of particular concern are kinetic weapons that produce orbital debris when they strike a target. The most significant change from a year ago has been Russia’s more aggressive behavior, said CSIS. China, meanwhile, continues to display advances in space capabilities including the launch of an experimental spaceplane that may have deployed at least one small satellite on orbit.
Cybersecurity in Space: Adversarial Efforts in 2021
The Center for Strategic and International Studies’s (CSIS) Aerospace Security Project has recently released their Space Threat Assessment 2021, and the US Intelligence Community has also recently released their 2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The CCI took a deep dive into the cyber implications of these two reports in our article "Cybersecurity in Space: Adversarial Efforts in 2021." To read more from the CSIS report, click here. To read more from the US Intelligence report, click here.
SPACE DEBRIS
In the lower part of the low earth orbit (LEO), Starlink satellites "are completely dominating the space-object population," Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Satellite collisions can send hypersonic shockwaves through the satellites and reduce them into thousands of pieces of shrapnel, which then form a shell around Earth, he said. All users of space, including governments and commercial and civil companies, have contributed to this picture of space debris, but if we don't address the space-junk crisis at a global level, rather than at an operator one, "we risk missing how the environment is degrading," adds Daniel Oltrogge, the director at the Center for Space Standards and Innovation.
A robotic spacecraft just latched onto an active satellite in orbit
A robotic spacecraft from Northrop Grumman latched onto an old communications satellite in deep orbit and extended its lifespan by five more years. The Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) marked Northrop’s second successful docking of an object in space. The mission is part of the company’s efforts to kickstart an industry of life-extension services for dead, dying, or errant satellites. Northrop is also building an upgraded satellite servicing system called a Mission Robotic Vehicle (or MRV) with their debut slated for 2024. That spacecraft will meet up with aging satellites to install orbital first-aid kits called Mission Extension Pods, designed to provide propulsion and power. These service spacecraft combat space debris but also represent a new cybersecurity vulnerability in the satellite life cycle.
German Space Agency to use Lockheed Martin tool to track space debris
The German Space Agency recently adopted Lockheed Martin’s iSpace command and control system, which collects data from government, commercial and scientific sensors all over the world to track thousands of objects in orbit. The system alerts operators to anomalies or potential collisions and suggests mitigating actions. The U.S. military already uses iSpace, which the company introduced in 2017. Notably, the U.S. Air Force used iSpace to develop its Space Fence, an S-band radar that can track objects smaller than 10 centimeters in low Earth orbit. According to experts, even debris smaller than a centimeter can damage satellites due to their high speed.
Space Junk Removal Is Not Going Smoothly
Coined as a "Space Age 'tragedy of the commons,'" objects, including debris, are beginning to crowd low-Earth orbit. The most extreme outcome would be the scenario laid out in Donald Kessler's Kessler Syndrome: a density of space junk that is so great that a "self-sustaining runaway cycle of debris-generating collisions can arise that might ultimately make low-Earth orbit too hazardous to support most space activities." There is no "one size fits all" approach to solving this problem, and the decluttering of space does not offer major commercial incentives. Some efforts are underway, but they are not going to be a "cure-all" for the problem at hand.
Space law is an important part of the fight against space debris
In addressing the growing abundance of space debris, and collisions between objects becoming harder to avoid, active debris removal (ADR) technologies will play a vital role in decluttering space. However, under international law, deflecting or interfering with space debris constitutes a "'national activity in outer space.'" If a country or private company conducts an ADR operation, they may carry the legal responsibility if something goes awry. These legal discussions, including those held by the UN, bring more questions than answers but are necessary for developing the legal frameworks necessary to ensure the safe and legal use of ADR technologies.
THANK YOU
Thank you for coming to us here at the CCI for your space and cyber-related news. We welcome any feedback you may have. We will see you next month, and don’t forget to keep up on your own cyber hygiene.
Until next time,
The CCI Team
Contact us at:
cci@calpoly.edu