The U.S. Army unveiled a policy to utilize robotics, artificial intelligence, composite materials and 3D printing in the maintenance of warfighter equipment, ArmyTimes reported Saturday. The service branch is looking to explore advanced manufacturing technologies to optimize the Army’s logistics capabilities and expand operational rates for legacy equipment.

“Their ability to replace parts quickly, doing it within hours, as supposed to weeks. … There’s an immediate return where you can put it into tactical formations,” said Ryan McCarthy, secretary at the Army.

McCarthy noted the policy will also drive the military service to invest resources and funding in advanced manufacturing efforts for future projects.

“We’re already doing it in 2021, but we needed to get more aggressive so we could have a comprehensive approach.”

NASA and partners have concluded a collaborative satellite mission to measure physical features of the global sea surface. The Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission launched in 2008 to measure sea surface height across the globe and ended Oct. 1 this year, the space agency said Friday.

NASA has worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, France’s space agency and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites to pursue the effort. The Jason-2/OSTM satellite worked to provide measurements over the mission’s 11-year course, continuing efforts started by the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 satellites. Engineers originally designed Jason-2 to function for only three years.

 “Jason-2/OSTM has provided unique insight into ocean currents and sea level rise with tangible benefits to marine forecasting, meteorology and our understanding of climate change,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The third designated Jason satellite, launched in 2016, is continuing to measure sea surface heights. NASA expects to launch two Sentinel-6/Jason-CS satellites in 2020 and 2025.

NASA has tested the separation capacity of the Mars 2020 rover’s descent stage at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Ryan van Schilifgaarde, a support engineer for the Mars 2020 assembly at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement published Friday that it took a day for the team to carry out static fire tests and inspection efforts for the two components.

The descent stage and the rover will undergo a series of tests within a Mars-like environment prior to its delivery to Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA will deploy Mars 2020 via a United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V rocket in 2020, and it expects the rover to arrive at the planet’s Jezero Crater in 2021. JPL has been tapped by the agency to handle the rover’s operations.

Former members of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking are calling on Congress to reconsider the group’s recommendation for a National Secure Data Service, Federal News Network reported Friday.

Katharine Abraham, a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said the service would help statistical agencies ensure that information they release would not compromise a person’s privacy. It would also work to “facilitate access to data for evidence building while ensuring privacy and transparency in how those data are used,” according to the commission’s report to Congress.

“There’s an incredible amount of work that still needs to happen in order to advance the recommendation, but if the data service were to exist, it would be able to generate insights about what’s happening in government programs and how we’re influencing the economy and ultimately making our government work better,” noted Nick Hart, CEO of the Data Coalition and the commission’s policy and research director.

Most of the recommendations in the commission’s 2017 report were included in the Evidence Act, which also mandates the establishment of an Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building.

The Space Development Agency’s proposed budget seeks over $11 billion in funds in the next five years to design and field satellite constellations in support of military missions as well as support other space programs, SpaceNews reported Sunday.

The five-year budget plan includes $10.6 billion in funds to support research and development work, prototyping, testing and launch of space “layers” and $582 million in baseline funds to support studies and come up with roadmaps for current space initiatives.

SDA will initially design the National Defense Space Architecture, which will be composed of seven layers and incorporate capabilities across industry and the Department of Defense, before it begins development work on the constellations, according to the report.

SDA’s budget requests for each layer are listed below:

• Transport layer – $6M in 2021 and $3.6B over five years
• Tracking layer – $39M in 2021 and 1.8B over five years
• Custody layer – $18M in 2021 and $232M over five years
• Battle management layer – $10M in 2021 and $56M over five years
• Navigation layer – $10M in 2021 and $56M over five years
• Deterrence layer – $1M in 2021 and $451M over five years
• Support layer – $61M in 2021 and $1.4B over five years

The U.S. and U.K. have agreed to allow access to each other’s digitally stored data and evidence for law enforcement purposes as part of the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, FCW reported Friday.

The tentative agreement covers a wide range of crimes and will comply with data protection laws, according to the Department of Justice. The agreement also prohibits both countries from using authorities to target each other’s citizens, and requires the U.S. to seek permission from the U.K. when using data for cases involving the death penalty.

“Only by addressing the problem of timely access to electronic evidence of crime committed in one country that is stored in another, can we hope to keep pace with 21st-century threats,” said U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr in a statement.

U.S. and U.K lawmakers are slated to conclude a review process on the CLOUD Act’s first bilateral agreement ahead of its full implementation in six months.