NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Dec 5, 2023

Energetic Particle Strikes the Earth

It was one of the most energetic particles ever known to strike the Earth – but where did it come from? Dubbed Amaterasu after the Shinto sun goddess, this particle, as do all cosmic rays that strike the Earth's atmosphere, caused an air shower of electrons, protons, and other elementary particles to spray down onto the Earth below. In the featured illustration, a cosmic ray air shower is pictured striking the Telescope Array in Utah, USA, which recorded the Amaterasu event in 2021 May. Cosmic ray air showers are common enough that you likely have been in a particle spray yourself, although you likely wouldn't have noticed. The origin of this energetic particle, likely the nucleus of an atom, remains a mystery in two ways. First, it is not known how any single particle or atomic nucleus can practically acquire so much energy, and second, attempts to trace the particle back to where it originated did not indicate any likely potential source.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

US, UK, Australia announce trilateral Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability initiative

Dec. 2, 2023

The United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced a trilateral initiative called the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability today following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in September.

The new program is designed to provide 24/7, all-weather capabilities that will increase the ability to detect, track, identify and characterize objects in deep space. The memorandum of understanding between the three countries will last 22 years.

“The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability will leverage the geography of the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom to further enhance our collective space domain awareness: the ability to track, identify and characterize space objects. Space domain awareness is foundational to responsible space operations, and it is essential for responding to activity in space, whether that activity is routine or hostile,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, Dr. John Plumb.

DARC offers higher sensitivity, better accuracy, increased capacity and more agile tracking than current radars capable of tracking objects in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit. Its ability to provide global monitoring extends beyond inclement weather and daylight, which are limitations of current ground-based optical systems. The capability will also be used to protect the essential services that rely on satellites and communication from space, including everyday aspects of modern life such as mobile phones and TV.

“As the space domain rapidly evolves, we must continue taking deliberate steps to ensure our collective ability to operate safely, and our nations are uniquely positioned to provide that capability on a global scale,” said U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.

“As the world becomes more contested and the danger of space warfare increases, the U.K. and our allies must ensure we have the advanced capabilities we need to keep our nations safe,” U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said. “Today’s announcement of a global radar network (DARC), based across the U.K., U.S. and Australia, will do just that, empowering the U.K. to detect, track and identify objects in deep space.”

Site surveys performed in the U.S., U.K. and Australia confirmed that these locations are optimally positioned to provide full coverages of the GEO.

“From its Australian site, the DARC will integrate with other DARC sites in the United States and the United Kingdom. This will provide a space domain awareness capability to deter nations from undertaking activities that are against Australia’s interests by providing continuous global detection and observation of satellites in space,” said Australian Lt. Gen. John Frewen, Chief of Joint Capabilities. “Working with our AUKUS partners continues to deliver advanced military capabilities contributing to a safe, more secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”

AUKUS has accelerated the delivery of the DARC initiative, and DARC will improve interoperability between the AUKUS partners, a key priority of the AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Program, termed "Pillar II," is a bold, generational opportunity for AUKUS to harness and uplift our innovation enterprises and industries, remove barriers to cooperation and together develop advanced capabilities for our warfighters.

All three sites are expected to be operational by the end of the decade.

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3604036/us-uk-australia-announce-trilateral-deep-space-advanced-radar-capability-initia/

>>20028434

>12/5

Bitcoin is of ‘national strategic importance’ says US Space Force officer

DEC 04, 2023

The United States needs to formally investigate using proof-of-work networks such as Bitcoin (BTC) to protect the country from cyber-inflicted warfare, according to Jason Lowery, a member of the United States Space Force.

In a four-page letter to the U.S. Defense Innovation Board on Dec. 2, Lowery explained that while Bitcoin is mostly seen as a “monetary system” to secure funds, few know that Bitcoin can be used to secure “all forms of data, messages or command signals.”

“As a result, this misconception underplays the technology’s broad strategic significance for cybersecurity, and consequently, national security.”

The Defense Innovation Board is an independent advisory board set up to bring the technological innovation and best practices of Silicon Valley to the U.S. Military. Lowery used the letter to urge the board to advise the Secretary of Defense to investigate the "national strategic importance" of PoW systems like Bitcoin.

Lowery used the letter to urge the board to advise the Secretary of Defense to investigate the "national strategic importance” of PoW systems like Bitcoin.

In his letter, Lowery explained that a proof-of-work system like Bitcoin could work to deter adversaries from cyberattacks due to the “steep costs” of a physically resource-intensive computer in the same way military assets help to deter military attacks against the country.

“Proof-of-work mirrors the physical security and deterrence strategies utilized in other domains like land, sea, air, and space,” but instead, it does it in the digital domain, Lowery explained.

Bitcoin’s potential cybersecurity applications are huge, according to Lowery, and could play an important role in the U.S. maintaining its position as the world leader.

“Addressing this could be vital for the US to maintain its positions as a global superpower and leader among nations, especially in an increasingly digital and interconnected world plagued by security vulnerabilities.”

Lowery says it has the potential to kickstart the “cybersecurity revolution” too.

“[It is] the beginning of a cybersecurity revolution. It converts the global electric power grid into a large, physically costly computer, or ‘macrochip,’ and uses it to physically constrain malicious actors and safeguard a wide range of data and messages traversing the internet.”

Lowery concluded Bitcoin’s cybersecurity application aligns “perfectly with a strategic offset” and that the U.S. Department of Defense may have already “lost valuable time” by not implementing it into its arsenal.

Lowery is also a national defense fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and previously proposed a cybersecurity tool on the Bitcoin base layer in March, which he claims is capable of transforming the country’s national security.

Meanwhile, in a separate thread on X, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong argued that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could play a pivotal role in helping the United States maintain its dominance with the U.S. dollar, according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

“One idea I’ve been contemplating is that Bitcoin may be the key to extending western civilization,” said Armstrong in a Dec. 3 post, explaining that cryptocurrencies can work in tandem with the U.S. dollar instead of dethroning it.

“I think it will be a natural check and balance that will complement the dollar and be the best defender of long term American interests,” Armstrong added.

He explained that world leaders often fail to retain the reserve currency by inflating its money supply and increasing its deficit spending.

“The U.S. is somewhere on this journey,” Armstrong explained but stressed the Chinese yuan and Euro aren’t viable alternatives at the moment as they have issues of their own.

Instead, cryptocurrencies have the potential to be the alternative currency in the event of a U.S. dollar downfall:

“What I think many haven’t considered is that people have an alternative now with crypto. They may start moving fiat into crypto, as an antidote to inflation.”

Armstrong stressed it’s better to move from dollars to cryptocurrencies than another country’s fiat currency if the U.S. dollar loses its dominance.

He added that U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC) and the emergence of flat coins will play a “major role in unifying these worlds.”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-national-strategic-importance-space-force-major-jason-lowery

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasonplowery_an-open-letter-to-the-defense-innovation-activity-7136779515376087040-Wq3c

>>20028897

Total number of VA claims lost in online systems tops 120,000

Dec 4, 01:44 PM

Veterans Affairs leaders on Monday acknowledged that more than 120,000 veterans who attempted to use department online platforms to file for benefits in recent years were stonewalled by technical problems, a total nearly 35% larger than previously reported.

Officials said they are still working to correct those errors and process those claims as quickly as possible. But House lawmakers raised concerns about the scope of the problems, some of which date back more than a decade.

“Mistakes are bound to happen,” said Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s panel on technology, during a hearing on the topic on Monday. “But it’s unacceptable that some of these errors persisted for years before anyone discovered them.”

In late August, VA officials announced that roughly 32,000 disability claims had been lost in the VA.gov computer systems for several months or years. Two weeks later, department leaders found 57,000 more lost cases, most involving veterans who tried to add or remove dependents on existing disability claims.

On Monday, Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer Kurt DelBene said that further reviews have found about 81,000 dependency claims misdirected within the computer system, as well as several thousand other cases in other categories.

He promised fixes as quickly as possible.

“VA.gov is the digital front door, and veterans need to have confidence and trust that their benefits and services are available, accurate, and secure,” he said.

About 26,500 of the outstanding dependency cases have now been processed and completed, and 22,500 of the outstanding disability claims finished, he said.

The department’s VA.gov site fields more than 14 million inquiries each month. VA staffers have blamed the past mistakes on software errors compounded by a lack of regular monitoring for potential problems.

While individuals whose cases were processed late can be eligible for retroactive payouts back to the original date they tried to file, the delay of months or years for those cases to be processed could have caused significant financial hardship for some veterans and their families.

Rosendale said he intends to file new legislation forcing closer oversight of the online benefits systems to avoid similar problems in the future.

“We all need to be confident that errors in VA.gov and other systems will never again be allowed to compound undetected and impact so many people,” he said.

Meanwhile, DelBene said he hopes the department will be able to process most of the remaining unaddressed cases before the end of the month.

https://www.federaltimes.com/veterans/2023/12/04/total-number-of-va-claims-lost-in-online-systems-tops-120000/

Integrated Mission Delta protypes report emerging successes

Dec. 5, 2023

The U.S. Space Force Space Operations Command stood up two provisional Integrated Mission Deltas in October, organizing service activities around mission areas instead of functional specialties to strengthen unity of command for readiness and energizing unity of effort for capability development.

After two months of operating under the new construct, IMDs are reporting emerging successes.

Three areas of critical improvements have been identified by the Guardians of Space Delta 3 (Electromagnetic Warfare) and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Delta – Provisional: synchronized testing to improve acquisition; increased response rate of intel assessments; and acceleration of operational effects.

“IMDs are designed to bring the best talent from across a mission area and focus their efforts on achieving unified mission readiness, accelerate development, fielding and presentation of combat-ready forces,” according to U.S. Space Force Col. Andrew Menschner, provisional PNT IMD commander. “We started to see the effects of IMD integration right away.”

Through combining functional areas under one commander, IMDs hope to streamline operations and increase capability development.

“IMDs combine units in SpOC that perform mission generation, intelligence support, and cyber defense with program offices in Space Systems Command that conduct sustainment activities,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Marc Brock, SpOC director of Combat Power. “The goal of the IMD structure is to have all the expertise you need to generate ready forces together in one command team.”

For example, operators from the 2nd Space Operations Squadron are now incorporated into ongoing acquisition Formal Qualification Testing, where previously it was uncommon to support in this way because acquisition program managers were in a separate Field Command and could not directly task an operator to attend. FQT is important as it is a last test of mission software and platform requirements at the factory before the newly developed systems is tested at the operational site, and it provides a “report card” for system maturity and readiness.

“Having operators participate in development testing, alongside acquirers, ensures the delivered system meets mission needs,” Menschner said.

The IMDs are also designed to enhance readiness and rapid response.

The increased response rate of intel assessment is another byproduct of the IMD structure. Under the new unity of command, intelligence personnel are embedded directly into the Deltas, “which is allowing Intel talent to specialize in specific mission areas, opening the door for improved tailoring of requirements to respond to threats,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Nicole Petrucci, commander of Space Delta 3.

It is believed these noted successes will drive the acceleration of operational effects.

“The owner of mission now has all the resources, authorities, and responsibilities to solve or manage challenges facing our Guardians,” Brock said. “This has enabled tailored, agile responses to improve our ability to generate combat-ready forces.”

The Space Force will continue to assess, iterate, and adapt the Unified Mission Readiness approach so that it can be extended to other mission areas across the Space Force.

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3606711/integrated-mission-delta-protypes-report-emerging-successes/