Space may soon become a war zone

October 20, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “At a summit in early December, NATO is expected to declare space as a ‘warfighting domain,’ partly in response to new developments in technology.

If it does declare space a war zone, NATO could start using space weapons that can destroy satellites or incoming enemy missiles. But what is this technology and how could it enable a war? In a recent first for space technology, Russia has launched a commercial satellite specifically designed to rendezvous with other satellites. The purpose of this vehicle is peaceful: It will perform maintenance tasks on other satellites in orbit.

The fact that commercial companies have this capability probably means that it exists for global military powers. This has caught the attention of NATO. If a country or company can maneuver its own satellites into close proximity of others, then it can do so for military or sabotage purposes – potentially without detection.

Another development is France’s recent announcement that it will build ‘bodyguard’ satellites armed with either machine guns or lasers. This follows an announcement that the United States will launch a space force in 2018. Many other nations may soon follow suit…” (“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” – Luke 21:25 – 27. See the next two reports.)

Pentagon requests $10.6 billion in funding for Space Development Agency

October 7, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “Despite consistent bipartisan pushback and international criticism, the US Department of Defense’s newest space agency may see drastic budget increases in the coming years as it looks to deploy some 1,200 satellites.

The Pentagon has requested a total of nearly $11 billion in funding for its controversial US Space Development Agency (SDA) over the next five years, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg earlier this month.

The SDA, which is separate from US President Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force, was established in March and announced by then-acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan as a response to ‘continuing actions by our near-peer competitors, China and Russia,’ that he said may be attempts to ‘deny, degrade or destroy US space capabilities.’

While the agency recently received a $150 million for its set-up, documents filed last month revealed the Pentagon is now requesting a modest budget bump up to approximately $259 million for fiscal year 2021. In the following years, however, SDA officials wish to see their budget balloon to $1.1 billion in 2022, $1.9 billion in 2023 and $3.67 billion in 2024, reported Bloomberg. The increase does appear to taper off at fiscal year 2025, with the Defense Department requesting $3.68 billion…”

Russia to deploy over 10 space monitoring centres by 2022

October 7, 2019 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “Russia will deploy more than 10 new laser-optical and radio-technical space monitoring stations on its territory by 2022, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

‘It is planned to deploy over 10 new laser-optical and radio-technical systems in Russia that implement various principles of detecting and identifying space objects,’ the ministry said.

The Defence Ministry also said that two new Voronezh-type missile early warning radars will become operational in 2022 in the Komi Republic and the Murmansk region in northern Russia.

‘Work continues on the construction of new radar stations for the missile early warning network in the Komi Republic and the Murmansk region. These works are planned to be completed in 2022,’ the ministry said…”