The U.S. Navy Reserve Forces Command has started beta tests for a cloud-based application that will help update customer interaction and administrative processes.

The Reserve Relationship Management app houses digital features and a mobile-compatible interface and is designed to help the command share information, standardize and automate managing capacities for organizational business relationships, the Navy said Wednesday.

R2M will work to provide warfighters with real-time access to processes that are available through a Navy Operational Support Center or the military service’s computer system.

Cmdr. Matthew McLauchlin, R2M project manager, noted the app will enable NOSC leaders and reserve sailors to monitor tasks and accomplish administrative processes remotely.

“Minimizing administrative delays will directly result in a more agile and lethal Reserve Force,”  McLauchlin added.

NOSC Schenectady and NOSC Richmond are assisting the NRFC with the beta tests.

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane is helping Indiana University establish a new laboratory facility that would support science and technology projects.

The new Multidisciplinary Engineering and Sciences Hall or MESH would serve as an activity venue for the university’s Intelligent Systems Engineering program, Naval Sea Systems Command said Wednesday.

MESH activities would take place in a 207K-square-foot building that would offer laboratory space for collaborative studies between Crane and IU researchers.

The effort would pursue research on various national security technologies including microelectronics and edge computing.

MESH’s establishment aims to help NSWC partners access updated research, create jobs for IU graduates, further develop the university’s engineering programs and attract investors.

Texas-based Southwest Research Institute has received a six-year-and-three-month, $12.8M contract from NASA to design and build a magnetometer that will support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 mission.

The instrument will feature two three-axis magnetometers and related electronic components that will work to gauge interplanetary magnetic fields, NASA said Wednesday.

Contract work will cover the fabrication, integration, test, analysis, assessment and calibration of the tool. SwRI will also maintain and sustain the instrument’s ground support equipment and support the mission operation center.

The SWFO-L1 satellite will gather upstream solar wind data and coronal imagery to assist NOAA in forecasting and monitoring space weather activities.

The satellite will take off in 2024 through NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe.

NASA will serve as the flight system acquisition agent for the project, while NOAA will oversee the entire initiative.

The FBI and the departments of State, Homeland Security and the Treasury have issued a guidance on malicious North Korean cyber activities and courses of action that organizations should take to address such threats.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Wednesday that the U.S. government also plans to award up to $5M to informants of illicit North Korean cyberspace operations targeting U.S. financial institutions, critical infrastructure and government networks.

North Korea has also “increasingly relied on illicit activities” such as cybercrime to gain revenue for its ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs, according to the advisory.

“The [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has the capability to conduct disruptive or destructive cyber activities affecting U.S. critical infrastructure,” the guidance states. “It is vital for the international community, network defenders, and the public to stay vigilant and to work together to mitigate the cyber threat posed by North Korea.”

FBI, DHS and the State and Treasury departments recommend organizations to raise awareness of North Korean cyber threats, share relevant information, implement cybersecurity best practices, notify law enforcement in the event of an attack and strengthen compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorism regulations.

The NATO Communications and Information Agency’s new software works to facilitate assessments of areas prone to degradation of signals from global navigation satellite systems.

The Radar Electromagnetic and Communication Coverage Tool or REACT allows users to estimate areas where interfering signals may affect the performance of GPS and other GNSS technologies that provide positioning, navigation and timing data, NCIA said Monday.

“NATO must take appropriate measures to ensure Allied forces can operate in a degraded or denied environment,” said Jean-Philippe Saulay, a NATO navigation and identification officer, who also noted that enemies have the means to deter GPS signals.

NATO member nations may obtain REACT for free as the tool continues to undergo testing.

REACT users must input a jammer’s technical and location information into the software that then maps areas where GNSS receivers may have trouble accepting signals due to interference.

The Trident Jupiter 2019 exercise demonstrated the use of REACT and gathered operator feedback.

NATO will further look into the software’s operation in classified networks under REACT’s next developmental phase.

Lori Glaze, director of the planetary science division at NASA, said the agency is trying to avoid delays in a Mars rover exploration mission slated to launch in July or August, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Glaze told attendees at a virtual group meeting that NASA is working to balance health and safety requirements with the need to keep activities on schedule. NASA intends to launch the rover dubbed “Perseverance” between July 17 and Aug. 15 to avoid waiting for the next launch window in over two years.

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida received the rover earlier this year ahead of its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in February 2021.

According to Glaze, Mars 2020 is a top priority for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate along with the James Webb Space Telescope program which is currently facing delays.

Jim Bridenstine, administrator of NASA and former Wash100 Award recipient, previously cited Mars 2020 and the Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station as key programs for the agency in the coming months.