02 July 2021
by Carlo Munoz
US-based commercial satellite company HawkEye360 is expanding its satellite-based radio frequency (RF) data collection and analytics operations with the launch of its Cluster 3 constellation late last month.
Operating in a three-satellite cluster constellation with each low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite weighing roughly 25 kg, the Cluster 3 constellation took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 30 June aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, according to a company statement. Constructed off a spacecraft bus developed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies' Space Flight Laboratory and deployed into orbit from a Sherpa-FX orbital transfer vehicle by Spaceflight Inc, the Cluster 3 constellation joins HawkEye 360's Cluster 2 constellation already in orbit.
A depiction of the HawkEye 360 next-generation satellite cluster. Although shown in near proximity to each other here, in reality, the satellites are spread approximately 300 km apart. (HawkEye 360)
“Once tested and moved into formation, Cluster 3 will significantly expand the current constellation's global revisit and collection capacity,” company officials said in the statement.
26 April 2024
by Olivia Savage
UK company Spaceflux has been contracted to develop and operate a ground-based SDA sensor as part of Project Nyx Alpha to monitor objects in GEO for UK Space Command. (Spaceflux)
The UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is conducting three technology demonstrator programmes to explore the utility of novel space domain awareness (SDA) technologies.
The first programme is exploring the development of a Deep Space Radar (DSR) designed to monitor and protect geostationary orbit (GEO) assets such as the Skynet satellite communications system, William Feline, senior principal advisor for SDA at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), said at the Military Space Situational Awareness Conference 2024, held in London from 22 to 24 April.
The purpose of the programme is also to assess whether the UK needs its own DSR capability or whether it can rely on or complement the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) currently being developed alongside Australia and the US, Emma Kerr, senior principal engineer for SDA at Dstl told Janes .
A monostatic or biostatic system is being considered as well as whether a new or existing system is required, Feline said.
26 April 2024
by Olivia Savage
Flyeye is a multiple-optics telescope with a very wide field of view that will be capable of classifying objects in space as small as 15 cm in LEO and 35 cm in MEO. The 6.5 m high and 4 m wide telescope will be used by the Italian Space Agency and military for SSA. (OHB Italia)
The Italian National Armaments Directorate (NAD) is procuring three ground-based sensors to enhance the country's space situational awareness (SSA), Janes learnt at the Military Space Situational Awareness Conference 2024, held in London from 22 to 24 April.
In total, two optical telescopes and one high-performance radar are being procured as part of its national SSA plans, Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinando Dolce, the head of SSA at NAD, said at the conference.
The first sensor being procured is a high-performance optical surveillance telescope from OHB Italia called Flyeye, Lt Col Dolce said.
Flyeye will have the capacity to monitor objects in low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary orbit (GEO), Commander of the Space Situational Awareness Centre at the Italian Air Force Colonel Dario Tarantino told Janes
26 April 2024
by Zach Rosenberg
A Kodiak-based MH-65 trains aboard the USCGC Healy in 2022. (Janes/Michael Fabey)
The last US Coast Guard (USCG) Airbus MH-65 Dolphin in Alaska retired from Air Station Kodiak on 23 April, ending the type's 36-year employment in the service's Alaska Patrol (ALPAT) role.
“For decades, the cutter and helicopter team were the core of the ALPAT mission,” said Commander James Kenshalo, a USCG MH-65 Dolphin pilot. “Together they projected force and protection to the most extreme remote regions of our nation's territories, operating beyond where help could reach.”
Air Station Kodiak operates six Sikorsky MH-60Ts and is scheduled to receive three more in 2025. The service intends to standardise its full rescue helicopter fleet on the MH-60T, which has a longer range, greater payload capacity, and commonality with other armed service fleets. Alaska is among the first regions to complete the transition because of the long ranges required to perform rescue and security missions in the region.
US-based commercial satellite company HawkEye360 is expanding its satellite-based radio frequency (R...
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