BLUF
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is preparing to solicit interest in a contract to help the US military observe and track objects that reside between geostationary orbit and the moon.Summary
This article by Courtney Albon, writing for Defense News, makes the following points:
- The proposed contract will undertake a new experiment on cislunar space domain awareness.
- The cislunar domain is between geostationary orbit, 35 000 km from the earth and the moon's orbit.
- The new projects come as the US Defense Department makes a notable shift in its posture toward cislunar space.
- It no longer views potential deep-space threats as part of a far-off future.
- The Department now recognises that space threats may present much sooner than previously expected.
References
Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:
- James Webb space telescope takes up station a million miles from Earth | The Runway (govcms.gov.au)
- What is Australia's space division, and why is it in the military? | The Runway (govcms.gov.au)
References from the Web:
- JAN 2022 Space Force Foresees Need for Cislunar Space Domain Awareness Within Decade—Air Force Magazine
- FEB 2022 Quantum Space unveils plans for cislunar platforms—Space News
