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Pentagon to forge deeper ties with space industry in ‘first-of-its-kind’ program
May 19, 2024
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is poised to sign agreements with commercial space companies that go far beyond the usual contractor relationships, integrating their equipment into military units and exercises with the expectation they will deploy systems if conflicts arise.
This initiative, known as the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), will see private sector equipment embedded into military units, used in training exercises and actual operations.
This new type of partnership has been in discussions for over a year and comes as the U.S. military increasingly views space as a critical domain for national security alongside land, air, sea and cyberspace.
Citing growing threats from China and Russia to disrupt American satellites, Pentagon officials say private companies are needed to help maintain crucial satellite capabilities like communications, navigation, surveillance and missile warnings.
“CASR shows just how serious we are about integrating commercial capabilities along with our military space capabilities,” said Col. Richard Kniseley, senior materiel leader of the Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office.
Companies eligible for the CASR program have to provide products or services that the military identifies as essential for operations, and have to prove that they have the capacity to support DoD under potential wartime scenarios.
Under these agreements, companies would commit to “to help defend America and its allies,” Kniseley said May 17 at a Washington Space Business Roundtable meeting.
Kniseley repeatedly stressed that participation in CASR is voluntary, contrasting it with China’s state-controlled space sector.
Access to threat intelligence
“Once integrated, you’ll have the option to become a CASR partner, not just in peacetime, but actively contributing to America’s defense,” Kniseley stated.
Incentives extend beyond financial rewards. Companies would gain access to threat intelligence, a valuable asset in a rapidly evolving space landscape.
“We’re working closely with the operational community” to better understand the implications of working more closely with commercial companies, he said.
“We’ll continue industry dialogue and refine program details through ongoing conversations.”
CASR contracts will be tailored to specific companies and capabilities. CASR companies will not be “hot backups” but provide capabilities that seamlessly integrate with military infrastructure, said Kniseley.
Contracts will stipulate compensation for “surge capacity” during periods of heightened demand, a crucial detail to hammer out during peacetime “so we’re not negotiating during a war,” he said.
Congressional backing
The House Armed Services Committee strategic forces subcommittee’s draft 2025 defense policy bill authorizes the CASR program, which gives the program a significant boost, said Kniseley.
“This codifies CASR.” He said contracting actions could begin as early as this year, with initial efforts likely to focus on space domain awareness, or capabilities to track objects in orbits.
“We’ve never done this before,” Kniseley noted. But ironing out the details now ensures a “repeatable process across various mission areas.
Getting it right requires starting now.”
China’s ‘kill web’
The CASR initiative comes amidst growing concerns about threats to U.S. satellites. Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force chief of space operations, recently highlighted China’s development of a “sensor-shooter kill web” that could endanger U.S. forces in the Pacific.
“Our rivals are heavily investing in counter-space capabilities designed to neutralize our space advantage,” Saltzman said in a speech May 9 at a conference in Australia.
“The U.S. military cannot go it alone. Collaboration with commercial partners and allies is essential.”
The success of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation in Ukraine, providing critical communication in a contested environment, serves as a compelling case study, said Saltzman, and underscores the potential of commercial augmentation to support military objectives, he said.
“We’re taking those lessons to heart as we build a more resilient space architecture.”
https://spacenews.com/pentagon-to-forge-deeper-ties-with-space-industry-in-first-of-its-kind-program/
Bright green fireball lights up the skies over Portugal and Spain
May 19, 2024
The internet is alight with footage of a meteor that sped through the night skies over Portugal and Spain, lighting up the skies as a blue-green fireball.
The meteor was confirmed by European Space Agency (ESA), who caught the fireball with its cameras in Cáceres, Spain, at 6:46 p.m. EDT (22:46 UTC) on Saturday (May 18). The ESA confirmed that the fireball was a piece of a comet that rocketed over Spain and Portugal, traveling at around 100,000 miles per hour, or about 65 times as fast as the top speed of a Lockheed Martin F-16 jet fighter. The ESA added that the meteor likely burned up over the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of around 38 miles (60 kilometers) over Earth.
Social media users took to X, Facebook, and Reddit by the thousands to discuss the bright fireball and share stunning images and videos.
The ESA wrote on its X feed that "ESA's fireball camera in Cáceres, Spain, spotted this stunning meteor last night! Our Planetary Defence Office is currently analyzing the size and trajectory of the object to assess the chance that any material made it to the surface."
X user Colin Rugg shared stunning footage of the meteor on his feed, writing: "This is insane. Early reports claim that the blue flash could be seen darting through the night sky for hundreds of kilometers.
At the moment, it has not been confirmed if it hit the Earth’s surface however some reports say it may have fallen near the town of Castro Daire.
Other reports say it was closer to Pinheiro."
News and media organization Nova Portugal also shared footage of the fireball taken from various locations.
"A meteorite lit up the sky of Portugal with a sparkling blue last evening to the surprise of the inhabitants who were outside at the time of its passage.
Thousands of Portuguese people shared their reactions to the event on social networks."
"Shooting stars" like this are pieces of material that break away from larger bodies like asteroids, comets, the moon, or even other planets and enter Earth's atmosphere at high speeds.
The friction these fragments called meteoroids (the name given to them when they are in space) encounter causes them to glow brightly, becoming meteors for a few brief seconds as they streak through the atmosphere, creating a glowing trail.
Around 90% to 95% of interstellar matter that makes its way to Earth this way doesn't last long enough to make it to the ground. If a meteoroid does make it to the ground, it is usually in the form of dust or very small particles and it is called a meteorite.
Just as different chemical elements are used to generate fireworks of different colors, the color of this fireball indicates its chemical composition.
The bright blue/green flash of the fireball indicates the burning of magnesium. One type of meteorite known to bear magnesium are the "pallasites," which contain large olive-green crystals that are a form of magnesium-iron silicate called olivine.
Though the origins of pallasites are somewhat mysterious, scientists think they could form when asteroids melt, with denser material sinking to their cores.
Pallasites could come from the boundaries between an asteroid's metallic core and its silicate, olivine-rich mantle.
If this is the case, then pallasites could teach scientists a great deal about how rocky planets like Earth formed in the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago.
Of course, this meteorite hasn't yet been confirmed as pallasite, and scientists don't know if any of it actually reached the ground, though the ESA says that the possibility of this is slim at best.
There's little doubt that the eruption of this fireball over Portugal and Spain is going to keep meteorite hunters busy for at least the coming days as they search for fragments that could have reached terra firma.
https://www.space.com/meteor-green-fireball-spain-portugal-may-19-2024
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13428335/RADAR-picks-structure-UFO-hotbed-rocket-experiment.html
Bizarre moment RADAR picks up a structure above 'UFO hotbed' during rocket experiment
UPDATED: 01:33 EDT, 18 May 2024
A group of scientists have been trying to understand what is causing a radar blip in the middle of Utah wilderness that is a notorious 'UFO hotbed'.
In a series of experiments that see the group using both ground-penetrating radar and rockets, they try to determine what may also be causing the electromagnetic disturbance from above.
The experiments were set at the 512-acre Skinwalker Ranch in northeastern Utah in the Uinta Basin.
The area is notorious for UFO sightings and other paranormal-related mysteries.
The scientists used radar in order to detect what may be behind a specific anomaly they're repeatedly experienced at a specific area of the ranch called The Triangle.
The ground penetrating radar (GPR) they used sends radio signals into the ground, but some are also sent up into the sky, enabling the detection of objects that might be lingering above.
The team noted how in the past, when they were scanning the area using GPS, there were times when all data would suddenly be lost, and the GPS signal would give readings that were below the surface of the ranch.
So far, the team have been unable to identify what is behind the sudden blocking of the GPS signal.
In this latest episode of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, the scientists attempt to uncover more of the mysteries of the area.
Rockets were fired into the sky only for the same GPS dead spots to appear as in previous experiments.
While a second team conducted GPR surveys, a similar phenomena was uncovered with major blips picked up at the exact same time as the rocket launch, some 40ft in the air.
Although the team had been attempting to uncover an underground tunnel that may lie below, the scientists were perplexed when the data they received appeared to have been altered by an unknown force.
Only seconds after launch the data produced some unusual readings appearing to show that the rocket had gone directly into the mesa, despite them witnessing from the ground that the rocket had fired straight up, to a height of around 2000ft.
However, the point where the rocket appeared to go inside the mesa is where a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon) was seen both entering and exiting the area on a previous occasion.
The team at first believe they may have uncovered some sort of electromagnetic disturbance, but others in the group say an object was discovered that appears and disappears if only for a few seconds.
Earlier this month, the team believed they had exposed a possible 'portal' on the haunted ranch, where the team has witnessed a mutilated cow who died under mysterious circumstances.
The discovery adds to the mystique surrounding Skinwalker Ranch, where past events have included encounters with mutilated cattle and other unexplained phenomena.
The history of Skinwalker Ranch is steeped in mystery. It's been called a supernatural place while others say it's 'cursed.'
Rancher Terry Sherman, who bought the property in the 90's became so spooked that he sold the property and moved his family of four away.
Sherman found several heads of his cattle mutilated after purchasing the land in 1996.
Additionally, Sherman witnessed unexplainable encounters, one in which Sherman saw a wolf-like creature three times the size of a normal wolf.
Another researcher saw an bizarre creature with piercing yellow eyes surveilling him from a tree, among other mysterious instances.
The ranch later became the focus of Pentagon investigations into UFOs through programs like the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).
In 2020, a bombshell report in Popular Mechanics describes the Pentagon's UFO program on 'Skinwalker Ranch.'
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Using black-budget money under the auspices of the Defense Intelligence Agency, in 2008 AATIP contracted private space technology company Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) to provide the government with technical reports and research into UFOs, according to the magazine.
BAASS controlled 'Skinwalker Ranch' in Utah - which the company proposed as a 'possible laboratory for studying other intelligences and possible interdimensional phenomena.'
Two previously unreleased technical reports submitted through the contract were published in full or in part by Popular Mechanics, revealing research into the medical effects of contact with anomalous flying objects and the frequency of unexplained phenomenon near nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile silos.
In 2008, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) awarded a $10 million contract to BAASS under a contracting program known as the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP).
A lifelong enthusiast of space travel and the paranormal, Bigelow purchases the Skinwalker Ranch, after various strange and paranormal events were reported there.
Bigelow proposed to use the ranch to study paranormal phenomenon, and a visit to the ranch by a DIA scientist in 2007 may have inspired the creation of the AATIP, according to Popular Mechanics.
Former AAWSAP contractor and astrophysicist Eric Davis shared what colleagues had told him of the DIA scientist's experience in an interview with researcher Joe Murgia.
'In the living room of the former NIDS double wide observation trailer/staff quarters. A 3D object appeared in mid-air in front of him and changed shape like a changing topological figure.
It went from pretzel-shaped to Möbius strip shaped. It was 3D and multi-colored. Then it disappeared,' he said.
According to former Senator Harry Reid, whatever happened at Skinwalker was enough to convince the DIA to seriously investigate paranormal and UFO phenomena.
'Something should be done about this. Somebody should study it.' I was convinced he was right,' Reid told New York Magazine.
A 2009 BAASS report commissioned by the Pentagon mentions Skinwalker Ranch in Utah as a 'possible laboratory for studying other intelligences and possible interdimensional phenomena.'
In 2016, Bigelow sold Skinwalker Ranch for $4.5 million to 'Adamantium Holdings', a shell corporation whose true owners have never been traced.
After this sale, all roads leading to the ranch were blocked, the perimeter was secured with cameras and barbed wire, and signs went up warning strangers not to approach.
Anyone who approached the ranch after reported being immediately confronted by guards and ordered to leave.
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