Air Force Awards Start-Up Contract To Detect Hypersonic Vehicles In Space Written 20 December 2019
Artist's impression of a Hypersonic Technology Vehicle HTV-2 reentry | David Neyland/Wikipedia
Space News reports that start-up Rhea Space Activity (RSA) and “partner” Lunar Resources have developed “a concept to deploy two spacecraft to manufacture a large mirror in space.” According to RSA founder Shawn Usman, the mirror “would be installed, in orbit, into a telescope that would be used to detect hypersonic vehicles.” At a “Space Pitch Day” event, the Air Force “awarded Lunar Resources a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 contract, with RSA as a subcontractor.” DoD has “identified Chinese and Russian hypersonic air vehicles as looming threats that are likely to penetrate current anti-missile shield systems.” The Pentagon believes that “the best vantage point to detect and track them is from space, particularly from lower orbits.”
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