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Tracking whats above
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
The Air Force wants to more than double how many satellites it can track by Oct. 1, said Col. Dusty Tyson, chief of the Air Force space control division.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, Air Force Space Command chief Gen. Robert Kehler and U.S. Strategic Command Gen. Kevin Chilton all met inside the Pentagon with CEOs from the ten top satellite companies on March 24 to discuss how the U.S. and the satellite industry can cooperate and reach this goal.
A collision between a Russian and U.S. satellite in February brought national attention to the crowd of satellites and debris floating in Earth’s orbit.
Officials want to increase the number of maneuverable satellites the Air Force tracks from 330 to 800, Tyson said.
Tags: Gen. Kevin Chilton, Gen. Robert Kehler, National Space Symposium, satellite, Secretary Michael Donley
No shortage of work after cyberworkshop
March 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Ben Iannotta
Designing a cybersecurity system? Lockheed Martin's Eric Cole says you need five things.
It’s easy to see what people mean when they say U.S. cybersecurity capabilities are in a sorry state.
The country is very much at the beginning of understanding this threat and how to defend against it, according to panelists at a March 30 workshop held by Air Force Space Command.
For starters, there is no standard terminology across the industry and government about what exactly is meant by such terms as cyberattack and cyberthreat.
Even the term “data theft,” which sounds easy enough to understand, is a misnomer according to Eric Cole, chief scientist at Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, and a member of the Obama administration’s cyber security commission. Really, the term should be “data copying,” which is actually a lot worse than out right theft, he said. The intruder wants to copy your data and do it stealthily, so you never know that your defense plans have been compromised until you try to use them.
How much work lies ahead? “We can’t even name all of the connection points that the government has to the Internet,” said Cole.
He then listed five prerequisites for establishing secure networks: a security policy; dollars; a team; a firewall; and an alert system.
One piece of good news, sort of, is that the more a network is probed or pinged by an enemy, the more secure U.S. software engineers ought to be able to make the network.
“We look at the body’s immune system as an example here,” said Kamal Jabbour, senior scientist for information assurance at the Air Force Research Laboratory office in Rome, N.Y.
Tags: Air Force, cybersecurity, space command
Key space leaders flock to Colorado Springs
March 29th, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Space leaders will huddle over the next four days at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Col., for the 25th National Space Symposium.
Officials from across the space community including Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, National Reconnaissance Office director Scott Large and even Bill Nye “The Science Guy” are scheduled to speak.
This year’s theme is “the Next Space Age” as the U.S. enters its 51st year of space flight, but more immediate topics such as the expansion of the Chinese space program and the level of funding space assets receive in the President’s budget will certainly garner attention.
The number of exhibitors has dropped from the 350 who attended last year to 140 this year in what would appear to be an effect of the global economic crises, but the Show Scout will be in Colorado Springs all week.
Check back for updates.
Tags: Air Force, China, National Space Symposium 2009, NRO