The Naval Research Laboratory has deployed a thermospheric imaging tool designed to transmit space weather information from NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite.

Developed by NRL in partnership with St. Cloud State University, the Michelson Interferometer for Global High-Resolution Thermospheric Imaging instrument works to gauge temperature and wind profiles and help scientists observe the effects of solar and terrestrial weather to the ionosphere, the U.S. Navy said Friday.

The ionosphere is located atop the mesosphere and serves as a border between space and the Earth. NASA intends to use the ICON satellite to orbit the ionosphere and assist scientists in understanding its structure through the MIGHTI instrument.

“The ionosphere is where Earth ends or where space begins, and we haven’t studied it nearly enough to fully understand how it works and to make reliable predictions,” said Christoph Englert, lead investigator for MIGHTI.

NRL previously fielded two instruments in 2002 and 2007 to explore atmospheric chemistry 60 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Joseph Klimavicz, chief information officer and deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice, has said that the department is working on various modernization efforts in line with the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract’s objectives. Klimavicz said in an interview with Government Matters aired Sunday that updating DOJ’s internet and telecommunications capabilities would help the department virtualize its security architecture and reduce operational costs.

He added that the EIS contract would enable the department to reinvest in other modernization efforts, including transitioning data and applications to a cloud-based environment and deploying software-based networking.

“We really need more bandwidth, especially at our remote sites, and even at our core facilities to connect them together,” he said. “I think we’ll have more flexibility when it comes to security, new policies. In the end, we’ll be able to get to our cloud service providers and more flexible and build in the resiliency too.”

According to Klimavicz, DOJ has been working to increase the bandwidth capacity in 1,500 locations and optimize its cloud-based applications over the past two years. He added that his office aims to quicken the pace of modernization and close its data centers in less than five years as part of its cloud implementation strategy.

Ken Bowersox, acting associate administrator for NASA’s human exploration and operations division, has said that the agency is working on a “very aggressive” schedule for the Space Launch System, Space News reported Friday. SLS is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to send the uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis-1 mission.

Bowersox told attendees duiring a presenattion in Las Cruces, N.M. that it’s likely for NASA’s projected 2020 launch to be delayed depending on the results of further integration and static-fire tests.

“We have a chance to actually have a rocket on the pad and launch by the end of next year,” he said. “But when you start throwing all those different uncertainties, it’s more likely that we will move out into 2021.”

In September, NASA finished integrating the launch’ vehicle’s components intended to support its core stage. Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne will work with NASA for further integration activities.

According to Bowersox, an official decision on a new launch date will not be issued until a new associate administrator for human exploration and operations is appointed.

The National Security Agency has formed a new group within its cybersecurity directorate to help predict and identify cyber vulnerabilities in commercial cyber platforms and help the technoloy industry improve the security of their products, Defense One reported Friday.

The new futures and standards group at NSA will also provide companies and customers recommendations to facilitate the safe use of products.

“Our role is taking the insights we have…whether it’s 5G, whether it’s quantum system crypto, whether it’s distributed ledger, and trying to work to ensure those products are built more secure. And we give advice to users who need different levels of security,” said Anne Neuberger, director of the cybersecurity directorate.

Neal Ziring, technical director at the directorate, said the futures and standards group will look at security concerns related to Chinese-made 5G equipment and advance collaboration with the tech industry before faulty platforms become widely adopted.

“Futures and Standards is going to look out a little ahead of today’s threats…look what’s coming down the pike, what sort of risks [a new technology or architecture] might engender, what sort of security improvements might be made to it, and then work with entities that might help effect those changes, usually industry, but sometimes standards bodies, to try and make sure that some of those security improvements are in there before that technology becomes widespread,” Ziring said.