THERESA HITCHENS
WASHINGTON — The problem with space is that there is just so dang much of it. There are, according to the late, great Carl Sagan, “billions and billions” of stars out there.
Even on a relatively minuscule scale, cislunar space — the vast reaches between the orbits of the Earth and the Moon that space operators all around the world are itching to exploit — involves a distance of some 500,000 kilometers, and more importantly because spacecraft do not travel in a straight line, a volume of around 2 million kilometers, according to Air Force Research Laboratory’s 2021 primer [PDF] on the region.
And just like in 2021, there were way too many stories this year in Breaking Defense’s little corner of the Universe to be able to come up with a list of the five most consequential. So, find below instead a highly subjective roundup of those that were most interesting, or just plain fun to write and, hopefully, read.
Practically everyone who has ever met me knows I am a sci-fi/fantasy fanatic. Thus, I have a serious soft spot for way-out-there, game-changing space tech ideas, even ones that are, well, fantastical. Space-based solar power (SBSP) is such an idea, and one that the Pentagon has halfheartedly tossed around for 15-odd years.
But folks may look back on 2022 as the year SPSP research finally stopped raising skeptical eyebrows and took a baby step toward reality. This story reviewed the multiple efforts by governments around the world — some with strong military interest — to demonstrate the feasibility of solar power beaming. Indeed, since this story was published, European Space Agency’s Council of Ministers has approved a feasibility study for its proposed SOLARIS SBSP project.
2. Seeing in the dark: Space Force works, slowly, to improve monitoring of the heavens and Key space monitoring sensors still rely on outdated CAVENet computer system
The decades-long saga of the failed Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS) program to upgrade the complex computer systems and models used by Space Command operators to keep tabs on satellites and dangerous space junk is epic. As was the journey that led to this packet of stories attempting to explain (as well as could be) the Space Force’s follow-on effort to pick up the pieces and implement a state-of-the-art system of hardware and, more importantly, software for crunching data from telescopes and radar pointed at the heavens. It’s an enormous undertaking, and one no one should envy Space Systems Command.
Since the inception of the Space Force in December 2019, there has been a debate about what role it should have, if any, in protecting space commerce. The complex policy and legal questions involved have only become more acute as the reliance by both the US military and the Intelligence Community on commercial providers and capabilities has grown. The issue became especially relevant this year due to the war in Ukraine and the extent to which commercial communications and remote sensing capabilities proved indispensable to Kyiv’s defense. This story took a deep dive into the foundational issues, most of which remain unresolved.
For years, there has been a concerted campaign by senior national security space leaders, especially the top brass, for the US government to come to grips with what pretty much everyone agrees is an over-classification problem regarding all things space — one that is increasingly having negative affects on the US ability to both stay ahead of and deter adversaries. How’s that going? Not so well, as this headline alone makes clear.
Last year’s “Five Stories” included the Biden administration’s initial promise to craft new international norms and rules for national security space activities designed to reduce the risks of “inadvertent conflict.” At the time, the prospect of a UN ban on destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons was only a sparkle in the starry eyes of optimists. But on Nov. 1, the UN First Committee, responsible for peace and security issues, took a step towards making that dream come true — backing a US resolution calling on all nations to place a moratorium on testing debris-creating ASAT missiles. (The full UN General Assembly followed suit on Dec. 7.) As of year end, nine other countries joined Washington in making such a pledge.
To be sure, ground-launched ASATs aren’t the only type of weapon that can create dangerous space debris. And the moratorium is focused on peacetime testing, not wartime use, the latter of which the Pentagon hasn’t completely ruled out. Further, only nine other countries so far have made a similar unilateral pledge — with US adversaries Russia and China actively pooh-poohing the effort.
Nonetheless, for proponents, the UN move is a welcome holiday-time gift of hope for progress in keeping military competition in space from sparking war on Earth, and safeguarding the space environment for the future. Here’s to more good-news stories for next year!
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