Mark Daley, deputy for operations at the office of space commerce, said a memorandum of understanding could be signed soon that would facilitate the transfer of space traffic management responsibilities from the Pentagon to the Department of Commerce (DOC), SpaceNews reported Tuesday. 

The Trump administration issued the Space Policy Directive-3 mandating Commerce in 2018 to take over space traffic management functions from the Department of Defense (DoD). 

“We developed an initial concept on what the architectural layout would actually be, with inputs from DoD and NASA,” Daley said Tuesday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies-hosted virtual conference. 

“We put together a plan for the next several years. We’ve looked at legal authorities and are trying to verify that we do have the authorities to execute the SPD-3 mission,” he added.

DoD and Commerce have been working together in the past several months to determine options how to facilitate the transition once Congress allocates funding and issues authorities. 

“We’re still awaiting funding for the FY21 appropriation but we are still trying to get industry’s inputs,” Daley said.

Federal officials discussed how their agencies could help support internet of things (IoT) through public-private partnerships, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. 

Daniel Morgan, chief data officer and assistant chief information officer at the Department of Transportation, said agencies working to establish relationships with industry associations could enable such partnerships to support IoT. 

“From where I sit inside Transportation, I think one of the important things to do is, because the deployment space for us is usually through a state local government, what we need to be able to think through is how whatever resources we build reach the deployment community most effectively,” Morgan said Tuesday during a panel for the Smart Cities/IoT At ACT-IAC webinar. 

“One of the things that I want to be able to better understand is how we can leverage public-private partnerships to disseminate best practices and approaches so that we can move ahead.” 

Emery Csulak, principal deputy CIO at the Department of Energy (DOE), said most discussions on 5G are about supply chain risk management, incident response and workforce and that evaluating threats to the supply chain could be one of the areas public-private partnerships could help DOE in the coming year. 

“We’re really looking at partners in the commercial sector to say, ‘how do we come up with solutions that are reasonable?’ Because you can go way overboard, and you can spend a lot of time looking at every nuanced piece of every component within an [internet of things] device,” Csulak said. 

“Or you can look at organizational risk, or you can look at a number of different things, and then in reality, look, can you actually implement that?”

Collins Aerospace Systems, a unit of Raytheon Technologies, has signed a collaboration agreement with Boom Supersonic to advance nacelle technology on Boom's Overture, the company’s forthcoming flagship supersonic airliner.

"Through improved acoustics and lightweight materials systems, we can provide the next generation of supersonic propulsion systems with the nacelle technologies that not only enable higher performance and lower fuel burn, but also quieter operation," said Marc Duvall, president, Aerostructures, Collins Aerospace.

Collins Aerospace engineers will collaborate with Boom to develop inlet, nacelle and exhaust system technologies that enable fuel-burn reduction and cutting-edge acoustics for cleaner and quieter supersonic flight. 

The engineers will integrate lightweight aerostructures and variable nacelle geometry. The combined engineering team will investigate the development of advanced acoustics and variable inlet and exhaust technologies required to minimize aircraft noise for passengers and airport communities, as well as enhance performance.

Overture is in its design phase with plans to finalize the configuration and begin building the first airliner while XB-1 is flying supersonic. Boom has projected to launch the first completed Overture aircraft in 2025, with entry into service planned for 2029.

"Having completed 19 nacelle certification programs over the past decade, we're uniquely positioned to collaborate with Boom Supersonic to create new propulsion-system solutions that will be key enablers of Overture's success," Duvall added. 

About Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace Systems is a leader in technologically advanced and intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defense industry. Collins Aerospace has the capabilities, comprehensive portfolio and expertise to solve customers' toughest challenges and to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global market. 

With 2019 net sales of approximately $26 billion, the business has 71,000 employees across more than 300 locations globally. It is one of the four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies. 

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) has conducted an inaugural meeting for the AI Partnership for Defense multinational initiative to help drive the dialogue on AI policies, ethics and best practices, National Defense Magazine reported Monday.

The two-day meeting took place in September and included military representatives from 13 participating nations.

Alka Patel, head of JAIC's AI ethics team, told National Defense in a prior interview that the nations have expressed interest in aligning their respective AI efforts.

She said she intends to explore further questions such as specific AI tools and processes as well as how to advance shared interests to “really think through how we shape the future when it comes to cooperation and defense”.

Paul Scharre, director of the Center for a New American Security's (CNAS) Technology and National Security Program, noted that the Department of Defense “deserves a lot of credit” in accelerating AI efforts.

Nations that participated in the meeting include the U.K., Australia, Sweden, South Korea, Denmark, Canada, Estonia, Norway, Japan, France, Finland and Israel.