A two-satellite constellation known as the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM), built by the US defence prime Northrup Grumman, was launched into geosynchronus orbit from Vandenburg Space Force Base, California.
ASBM is designed to operate in a highly elliptical orbit to provide effective military, as well as commercial, communications coverage in the Arctic region.
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In a historic partnership between Space Norway and the US Space Force (USSF), ASBM marks the first time an operational US military payload is hosted on an international commercial space mission.
Northrup Grumman contributed critical components, including two USSF Enhanced Polar System – Recapitalization secure communication payloads, the Control and Planning Segment ground system, X-band and Ka-band payloads, two GEOStar-3 satellite buses, ground system for the satellites, systems integration and launch site integration operations.
Rob Fleming, corporate vice president and president at Northrup Grumman Space Systems commented:
“Our team came together at every stage of design, test and integration to bring commercial broadband and protected military satellite communications to the Arctic for many years to come.”
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By GlobalDataProtecting space-based assets
Ensuring reliable communications in the space domain today is proving far more difficult than in recent times. Belligerent nations are beginning to bring the fight to space, so nations must begin to leverage the new domain beyond the use of its critical space-based capabilities on which all countries have come to depend. Protection is not optional; it is necessary.
Nato have also launched a new initiative at the end of July in which the alliance will re-route the internet and the flow of information into space in the event that undersea cables are attacked or accidentally severed.
This has proven to be an enduring vulnerability for the West following incidents such as the sabotage of the two Nord Stream pipelines in 2022.
Dr Eyup Turmus, an adviser and manager for the Nato Science for Peace and Security Programme, noted that this will “address the urgent need for a more resilient internet infrastructure worldwide.”
However, the decision may substitute one vulnerable domain for another that is becoming increasingly susceptible to sabotage. This solution appears to neglect the reality of space as a domain in its own right, a space where wars are fought as much as they are below the sea.
