Space & Cybersecurity Newsletter - March 2021
WELCOME BACK
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March 2021 marks our seventh month sharing space and cybersecurity news with our wonderful community. The CCI Team would like to extend our gratitude to you for supporting this endeavor. This month, we ask for your help filling out this survey so that we can tailor our content to best fit your needs. Thank you for your participation and continued readership!
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Space Force starts transitioning cybersecurity professionals into its ranks
The U.S. Space Force has "brought in 2,400 of the 6,400 active duty cyber personnel it’s planning for" to serve as Cyber Guardians to protect satellites and other U.S. space assets from hacking. Gen. John Raymond notes that "'they’ll understand the cyber terrain of space and will help us protect this critical domain from that threat." This comes at a time when the Space Force has been finalizing details with private security companies to increase cybersecurity.
From the pandemic to going public: Space startups face hiring challenges
Using their launch livestreams that captivate broad audiences, SpaceX has been able advertise employment opportunities using marketing strength far superior than startups. Through the pandemic, startups including Isotropic and Astra have been challenged in their hiring efforts. Isotropic, who currently has 70 employees aims to hire 40 more and has found prospective talent in those who were laid off as a result of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Astra had to overcome this challenge differently as they previously did not have a publicly available website, and posted jobs as the "Stealth Space Company" in previous job postings. In overcoming this hurdle, Astra will go public through a merge with Holicity, allowing them to give future employees liquidity while tapping into a fresh talent pool.
The CCI is proud to announce a new partnership with Cal Poly Extended Education, UpSkill California, and California’s Employment Training Panel (ETP) to deliver cybersecurity and cloud skills training from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to upskill and reskill the current and future workforce of California through training collaborations, targeting communities and corporations across the state. To learn more or enroll in training courses, click here.
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS
China, Russia enter MoU on international lunar research station
In a virtual meeting on March 9th, the heads of the Chinese and Russian space agencies signed an MOU on "cooperative construction of an international lunar research station" (ILRS). This project is going to open to any country or international party interested in joining in, with the purpose of the ILRS to be "a comprehensive scientific experiment base built on the lunar surface or on the lunar orbit that can carry out multi-disciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities." The recent and upcoming Chang'e missions will lay the groundwork for the station that may ultimately lead to a human presence on the lunar surface.
DoD Faces Tough Decisions On Space Rules
After a 2020 U.N. Resolution, the U.S. and other nations are required to report their plans regarding how they will act responsibly in space, whether in peace or war. The DoD now has to "make clear what it believes it needs to be able to do with military force to prevail in a future conflict in space." The challenge in taking on this new frontier rests in balancing the establishment of norms around the peaceful use of space, while not curbing "any future options for military response to adversary actions in space." The U.S. has until May to submit their response and the U.N. will review the report that includes other member nations responses in October 2021.
Space Is a Great Commons. It’s Time to Treat It as Such.
Treating space as commons, similarly to how the international community treats oceans, would allow for the management of Earth orbits to ensure "safety and predictability." A large part of the problem is the increasing amount of space debris in Earth orbits causes concern for the safety of future space operations, leading to the need for governance agreements in space. Spacefaring states are now tasked with building upon multilateral agreements, including the Outer Space Treaty, in order to "establish accountability mechanisms that preserve the usefulness of Earth orbits."
SPACE & CYBER SYSTEMS
Space jam: why the military is prioritising cybersecurity for space
“Space-based assets are critical to the modern military’s capability and form part of the critical national infrastructure of a modern economy,” says Dr. Michael Holden, the space advisor for the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) event. US space strategy lists cyber-threats they see to space-based systems, and ranks them on a scale from fully reversible to irreversible; depending on the nature of the cyberattack, it could range from either of the extremes on the threat scale. Holden identifies three essential factors to protecting these space-based assets from cyber attack: the government adopting a risk and systems-based approach, assessing risk and threats to all systems, recognizing the need for ongoing security procedures as threats evolve.
Is Cybersecurity More Difficult Than Going to Mars?
Two mathematical concepts can be helpful in understanding the concerns around cybersecurity: complex and complicated. Complicated problems are intricate and challenging but substantial investment of time and resources can make make a complicated concept a concrete reality. Sending a rover to Mars is a complicated task that requires huge effort, but Perseverance just recently touched down on the red planet. Cybersecurity, however, is complex, featuring constantly emerging threats and an unpredictable human factor that allow unique and ever-changing vulnerabilities. From this perspective, cybersecurity is harder than going to Mars and, perhaps, more important, when considering the sheer volume of data being processed daily. The author recommends organizations to adopt security models that integrate cybersecurity risk management as part of their decision-making process to reflect the importance of cybersecurity.
To learn more about a Cal Poly alumni's involvement in the Perseverance mission, click here.
DoD space agency to award multiple contracts for up to 150 satellites
As a part of the national priority for commercial innovation and commercial partnerships in the space sector, the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency (SDA) will solicit bids for an upcoming procurement of up to 150 satellites to be launched in late 2024. The request for proposals will be issued in August and contracts could be awarded before the end of this year. These satellites will be a part of the SDA's fleet of satellites in low Earth orbit that include a Transport Layer of data-relay satellites and a Tracking Layer of sensor satellites to detect and track missiles. The initial 28 satellites, known as Tranche 0, will be launched in 2022, and this round of 150 satellites will be known as Tranche 1.
GPS & COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY
DHS Publishes Free Resources to Protect Critical Infrastructure From GPS Spoofing
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate has published the Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Integrity Library and Epsilon Algorithm Suite to protect against GNSS spoofing. These resources are open source, free of charge, advance the design of PNT systems, and increase resilience of critical infrastructure to PNT disruptions. They do so by providing users a method to verify the integrity of the received GPS data. In conjunction with these tools, the DHS recommends a holistic defense strategy that considers the integrity of the PNT data from its reception through its use in the supported system. The resources are linked in their respective names above.
NASA and SpaceX sign agreement on spaceflight safety
NASA announced March 18 it had signed a Space Act Agreement with SpaceX regarding coordination of operations of the International Space Station (ISS) and other NASA spacecraft with SpaceX’s growing fleet of Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). SpaceX agreed to maneuver any of its Starlink satellites that come close to the ISS or other NASA spacecraft in LEO by way of autonomous maneuvering systems. “With commercial companies launching more and more satellites, it’s critical we increase communications, exchange data, and establish best practices to ensure we all maintain a safe space environment,” says Steve Jurczyk, Acting Administrator of NASA.
EVENTS
GeoIgnite 2021 – Canada’s National Geospatial & Location Technology Conference
Canada's National Geospatial and Location Technology Conference: GeoIgnite will take place virtually between April 14th and April 30th this year. The conference will feature seminars, workshops, and training and is free to Canadian government participants of all levels.
Small Satellites 2021 (Virtual Conference)
The inaugural Small Satellites conference will take place on the April 26th to April 27th and will explore economies of scale, small satellite production and design, regulatory considerations in the increasingly congested domain, and key program updates from across leading space agencies, militaries and commercial solution providers.
The CubeSat Developer’s Workshop is an annual conference hosted by the Cal Poly CubeSat Laboratory at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. More than 500 industry professionals, small satellite developer’s and students come together for two to three days of presentations, networking events and more. The virtual conference will take place from April 27th to April 29th this year. Follow the headline link to register or learn more.
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