NASA's Gateway space outpost will field two scientific investigations to study space weather and the sun's radiation.

The agency said Thursday it has built a space weather instrument platform that will work to gather data from solar particles and solar wind to potentially augment space weather forecast capabilities.

The radiation instrument tool is developed by the European Space Agency to help astronauts trace radiation exposure around the Gateway's orbit.

Gateway is slated to orbit near the moon and house astronauts on a regular basis as part of the agency's lunar exploration efforts. NASA noted it will deploy additional payloads from the outpost in the future.

“Using the Gateway as a platform for robotic and human exploration around the Moon will help inform what we do on the lunar surface as well as prepare us for our next giant leap – human exploration of Mars,” said Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator.

NASA is currently in talks with ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to seek their support in Gateway's construction.

About The Wash100

The Wash100 Award, now in its seventh year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.

Michael Griffin, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and two-time Wash100 Award recipient, said he sees quantum applications as long-term pursuits in the Department of Defense, DoD News reported Thursday.

DoD now focuses on what quantum computing and communication can do for the military in the short term, instead of going beyond what is available in resources, Griffin said to the House Armed Services Committee.

He gave examples of DoD's quantum priorities, such as quantum clocks and sensors. Quantum clocks would help troops maintain communications in environments denied of GPS, the undersecretary noted.

"These are the things that we will see in the next few years and where we are focusing a substantial amount of our effort," he stated.

About The Wash100

The Wash100 Award, now in its seventh year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.

President Trump has signed legislation focused on ensuring the security of 5G technologies intended to support critical infrastructure and expand broadband access to rural areas and underserved communities.

The White House said Thursday the  Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act impoises bans on the use of federal funding to procure telecommunications technologies from companies that “pose a national security threat.” The administration will provide reimbursements to entities that have deployed telecom equipment from blacklisted firms to cover removal and replacement work.

As part of the legislation, the federal government will facilitate information-sharing across its stakeholder network to promote supply shain security and mitigate risks to 5G implementation.

“The stakes could not be higher—America’s citizens and our foreign partners must be able to trust that our 5G networks are reliable, private, and secure,” the White House notice states.

The Trump administration is “working with allies and partners” to develop telecom security principles and ensure that the private sector has spectrum access to support mid-band communications and improved wireless connectivity, according to the notice.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) unveiled a new Request for Prototype Proposal (RPP) calling for industry input on 5G technology development related to a Smart Warehouse testbed, network enhancements and applications at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, the department announced on Thursday.

"The National Spectrum Consortium is the place where government, industry and academia come together to solve the toughest challenges related to 5G technology development," said Joseph Dyer, chief strategy officer of the National Spectrum Consortium. 

DoD issued the RPP to support government requirements, including NSC-20-2010, NSC-20-2020 and NSC-20-2030. NSC-20-2010 will require a 5G Prototype Testbed. Within the prototype testbed, DoD will require contractors to design and deploy a 5G network prototype that will serve as a reference implementation for Marine Corps smart warehouse operations. 

For the NSC-20-2020 RPP,  5G Prototype Enhancements, DoD has asked contractors to design and field prototype 5G network enhancements that will serve as reference implementations for Marine Corps smart warehouse operations. 

NSC-20-2030, or 5G Prototype Applications, will look to design and field prototype 5G enabled applications that serve as reference implementations for Marine Corps smart warehouse operations.

The RPP announcement marks the first of four DoD has released. The department has projected the release in relation to 5G technology development.  Other planned RPPs relate to augmented and virtual reality for training purposes and dynamic spectrum sharing.

 "This is the first of four proposals that the DOD has released.  We encourage our membership, which is made up of traditional contractors and innovative startups, to collaborate and respond to these incredibly important RPPs," added Dyer.

About the National Spectrum Consortium

National Spectrum Consortium is a team of our Nation's leading technologists, engineers, scientists, manufacturers, and program managers from industry, academia, and government working to solve the toughest problems facing the nation with regard to 5G, 5G-based technologies, and spectrum access and sharing.  The NSC's mission is to foster collaboration among Government, Industry and Academia to identify, develop and demonstrate the enabling technologies necessary to broaden the military and commercial access to and use of the electromagnetic spectrum for 5G and beyond.