NASA has unveiled four astrophysics research proposals for the agency’s Pioneers program that will receive funding to support agency efforts to explore topic areas such as exoplanets, galaxy evolution, neutron star merging and high-energy neutrinos.

NASA said Thursday the proposals are subject to a concept study review ahead of flight approval. Pioneers has a funding cap of $20 million and allows participants to use of government-developed telescopes as well as off-the-shelf space vehicles.

Paul Hertz, director of the astrophysics division at NASA, said the agency received more than 20 proposals from NASA centers, research laboratories and universities for the program.

“The principal investigators of these concept studies bring innovative, out-of-the-box thinking to the problem of how to do high-impact astrophysics experiments on a small budget,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The selected proposals include the Aspera mission, which will use a small satellite to study galaxy evolution, and the Pandora smallsat mission to observe 20 stars and their corresponding 39 exoplanets.

Other missions include the StarBurst and PUEO efforts which will respectively use a smallsat and a balloon to detect high-energy gamma rays and neutrino signals to study neutron star mergers.

Vice Adm. Nancy Norton, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and Wash100 awardee, has said the agency is working to “isolate” suspicious activities in a cloud environment to support remote work operations, DoD News reported Thursday.

Norton told attendees at a virtual AFCEA event that DISA has been working on the Cloud Based Internet Isolation (CBII) initiative over the past 10 months as part of the agency’s efforts to integrate industry capabilities and rapid-acquisition methods.

CBII entails containing and eliminating web-based threats in a cloud environment instead of DoD networks and personal devices, she noted. According to Norton, CBII also requires less bandwidth through the use of a virtual private network.

"Our primary goal is to preserve and protect the ability of our workforce to conduct mission central operations that we support on national defense and current worldwide military missions," she said.

Norton's comments come after the service branches launched efforts to implement Microsoft Teams-based commercial virtual remote tools to address telework needs.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has previewed the subject areas for the Small Business Innovation Research program in fiscal year 2021, covering topics such as materials, infrastructure and safety across DOT's operating administrations.

DOT said Thursday it anticipates its six operating administrations to issue a total of 13 subject areas for fiscal 2021's solicitation, with funds up to $1.9 million. The department will also host a second annual pitch day during the fiscal year to enable small businesses in presenting their proposals to DOT.

"Small businesses are responsible for two-thirds of net new jobs created in America; this small business innovation research program will help small companies in the transportation sector to build the transportation system of the future," said Elaine Chao, secretary of DOT.

SBIR seeks to help small businesses commercialize their concepts through federal research and development activities.

The operating administrations are:

• Federal Highway Administration
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
• Federal Railroad Administration
• Federal Transit Administration
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Mike Pompeo, secretary of the Department of State, has approved plans to establish a bureau aimed at ensuring the security of U.S. emerging technologies and cyberspace capabilities.

The State Department said Thursday the Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies will spearhead U.S. efforts to foster international partnerships and drive the discussion on technology and cyber policy issues while mitigating cyber conflict.

CSET’s establishment will also help the State Department engage “as effectively as possible” on national security concerns, the department noted.

According to the State Department, the allocation of resources for U.S. security diplomacy in cyberspace and emerging technologies is critical amid increasing challenges brought by adversaries such as China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

The State Department notified Congress of plans to create CSET in 2019.

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) to foster commercial space transportation capabilities, including commercial crew and cargo activities, NASA reported on Friday. 

“Our partnership with the FAA will support the growth of American commercial aerospace capabilities that will benefit NASA, the nation, and the entire world,” said NASA administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, Jim Bridenstine. 

The NASA-FAA MOU follows the success of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 launch, the first crewed mission from American soil to be licensed by the FAA. The new agreement will support the transportation of government and non-government passengers, cargo and other payloads for orbital and suborbital space missions. 

The partnership will work to drive safe and cost-effective transportation, as well as streamline spaceflight standards and requirements. NASA and the FAA will develop a framework for private industry to follow for commercial launch and re-entry. 

Additionally, the agencies will create an approach for sharing safety data with the public to enhance understanding of the known risks of commercial space travel. NASA also will work with the FAA to license orbital and suborbital flights, develop new space technologies and research opportunities and advance point-to-point commercial suborbital pilot programs. 

“The partnership between the FAA and NASA is vital to continue the growth, innovation and safety of commercial space operations, and maintain the pre-eminence of U.S. leadership in the aerospace sector,” said FAA administrator Steve Dickson.

NASA is currently working with the FAA on commercial suborbital spaceflight activities through the Commercial Crew Program’s Suborbital Crew (SubC) efforts to extend suborbital space transportation capabilities for NASA astronauts and other NASA personnel.

Teledyne Paradise Datacom, part of the Teledyne Defense Electronics Group, has received certification for two of its modems, QFlex-400 and Q-Lite Compact Modem Card, for use in the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) system, the company reported on Thursday. 

“The WGS certification process is one of the most stringent and demanding certifications for any satcom manufacturer to successfully complete,” said Mike Towner, senior director of Sales, Marketing. “This certification is testament to the secure foundation of Paradise modem technology that we have long delivered for mission-critical applications.”

Teledyne Paradise Datacom modems have been approved for use on WGS satellites by the U.S. Army Forces Strategic Command (ARSTRAT). Both of the company’s software-defined modems are versatile, configurable and field-proven, featuring enhanced security. 

The modems have helped to ensure uninterrupted data transmission. WGS users will deploy the Paradise modems as datalinks for voice, data, video and internet data transfer for secure government communications over the WGS satellite constellation.

The company’s QFlex-400 has integrated features that support bandwidth-saving technologies, including DVB-S2X and IP features, including Adaptive Code Modulation acceleration and header and payload compression.

The Q-Lite Compact Modem Card is a single-board, comms-on-the-move modem designed for simple mechanical integration into OEM products. It also features low power consumption and a very small physical footprint. It is compatible for use with the QFlex-400 modem.

About Teledyne Paradise Datacom

Part of the Teledyne Defense Electronics Group, Teledyne Paradise Datacom designs, manufactures and sells satellite modems, solid state power amplifiers (SSPA), low noise amplifiers (LNA), block up converters (BUC) and associated redundancy subsystems. We deliver satellite communications products around the world and have unparalleled experience in amplifier and modem technology.