The Department of Defense is in the final stages of producing its first digital technical reference architecture for purchases of satellite communication terminals. The TRA is currently undergoing an internal approval process and is anticipated to be finalized by the start of 2022. According to Michael Dean, head of the SATCOM team for the DOD’s chief information officer, the digital nature of the TRA will allow potential vendors to easily determine if their products meet the necessary engineering requirements instead of manually going through a standard hundred-page document, Air Force Magazine reported. Read More

Microsoft has announced plans to move its U.S. federal team under the umbrella of its Azure engineering organization. In an email announcing the internal shakeup, Judson Althoff, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said the U.S. Federal team will begin operating as its own subsidiary starting Oct. 1. The move is part of a reorganization of the tech company’s U.S. public sector operation, FedScoop reported. Read More

The Defense Innovation Unit has asked industry to submit proposals for small nuclear-powered engines that can support space missions beyond Earth orbit. According to a recently posted DIU solicitation, the Department of Defense is specifically looking for commercial solutions for “lightweight, portable, and long-duration power sources” that can provide propulsion and on-station power to enable sensing and communication on small- and medium-sized spacecraft. The DIU noted that new DOD space missions require advanced propulsion technology that enables high delta-V and electrical power to payloads while maintaining fuel efficiency, SpaceNews reported. Read More

NASA has appointed Shannon Curry as the principal investigator for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission. Curry assumed her new role on Aug. 31 after serving as a planetary scientist and deputy assistant director of planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. She replaces the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Burke Jakosky, who served as the mission’s principal investigator for seven years beginning in 2013, when MAVEN was launched, NASA said. Read More

SpaceX has secured a launch services contract for NASA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U mission. The GOES-U satellite is designed to provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s weather, oceans and environment. It also comes equipped with real-time mapping tools for lightning activity and advanced monitoring capabilities for solar activity and space weather. The satellite launch, scheduled for April 2024 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is estimated to cost approximately $152.5 million, SpaceX said. Read More

The Department of Health and Human Services’ cybersecurity arm has warned the health and public health sector to be on high alert because of the emergence of the BlackMatter ransomware group. In a detailed threat brief, the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center said BlackMatter operates by incorporating the best features of ransomware strains such as DarkSide, Lockbit 2.0 and REvil/Sodinokibi. The emerging group, which HC3 believes to have originated in Eastern Europe, is seemingly financially motivated and claims to be honest and transparent when dealing with victims, saying in statements that it would never attack the same company twice, HealthITSecurity reported. Read More

Tenable’s cyber risk reduction solutions have been added to Carahsoft’s product offerings under the General Services Administration’s IT Schedule 70 contract. With the addition of the Tenable portfolio to the GSA IT Schedule 70 contract, organizations across the federal, state, local and education markets now have broader access to products designed to provide holistic visibility, security and control over information technology and modern assets, Carahsoft said. Read More

Cybersecurity leaders from the U.S. and the U.K. governments recently met to discuss how the two countries can further tackle ransomware. During a face-to-face engagement in London on Sep. 9, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly and Lindy Cameron, CEO of the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre, talked about their organizations’ priorities. The bilateral meeting highlighted the impact of ransomware attacks over the past year and the need for governments to collaborate with industry in efforts to combat ransomware, Homeland Security Today reported. Read More

A partnership between the National Armaments Consortium and the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Indian Head Division has released a requirements document focused on prototype projects involving hypersonic weapons and other munitions. The partnership, called Naval Energetic Systems and Technologies, issued 57 statements of need on the projects, with the total volume of the solicitations expected to amount to more than $100 million. The public-private partnership focuses on advancing technological breakthroughs in the field of energetics, a broad category of materials that are part of rocket and missile motors, ammunitions and warheads, among others, Defense News reported. Read More

The Defense Digital Service plans to have its technologies for sensing and detecting small unmanned aerial systems transferred to the Air Force Research Laboratory by Sept. 30. According to a spokesperson from the DDS, the AFRL’s Negation of Improvised Non-State Joint Aerial System program will absorb the digital service’s drone-sensing capabilities, including its high-fidelity long-range sensor and user interface for sensor integration. The transition is part of a memorandum of understanding that the DDS and the AFRL signed in April to collaborate on work focused on counter-sUAS efforts, FedScoop reported Friday. Read More

Col. Luis Lara, the Marine Corps Systems Command’s program manager for training systems, has made developing Force-on-Force Training Systems-Next one of his top priorities. The Marine Corps awarded the $128 million, single-award FoFTS-Next contract in June to Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab. According to the Marine Corps, the new capability will immerse trainees in realistic, scenario-based, simulated environments against live, role-playing opponents, National Defense Magazine reported. Read More

The Department of Energy is providing a total of $16 million for five research projects aimed at developing artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms that will enable scientific insights and discoveries using data produced by computation simulations, experiments and observations. The projects will produce capabilities for a broad range of scientific needs, including forecasts for the dynamic behavior of the electric power grid, extreme climate and weather event predictions and using data produced by computational models for drawing conclusions about combustion, cosmology and high-energy physics, the DOE said Thursday. Read More

A centralized resource for COVID-19 data initiated by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences has played a key role in advancing research to combat the ongoing global pandemic. The National COVID Cohort Collaborative Data Enclave consolidates patient electronic health records and other clinical information related to COVID-19 from various institutions, allowing researchers to determine risk and protective factors, and discover medications to mitigate severe infection and long-term effects of infection, among other things, Nextgov reported. Read More

Sandia National Laboratories, together with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, has come up with a new design for radiation portal monitors in support of the Department of Homeland Security’s initiative to replace aging radiation detection systems at ports across the country. The blueprint by SNL and PNNL highlights the use of a modular, open-systems architecture that allows for module or unit upgrades and replacements as new technologies or threats arise, Homeland Preparedness News reported. Read More