The robot satellite known as RSGS will provide four types of service: inspection of anomalies that appear in a satellite’s operations; assist with adjustments to a satellite’s orbit; correct mechanical problems; and, help install new payloads to upgrade capabilities.

Instead of augmenting super-soldiers, DARPA wants to boost troops’ natural defenses against engineered diseases — and even undo gene-editing altogether.

AI is a key growth investment area for DoD, with nearly $1 billion allocated for 2020. Breaking Defense takes an in-depth look at what’s happening, and what’s ahead.

“Kill webs,” not kill chains. Instead of exquisite platforms like the F-35 fighter, exquisite functional technology nodes (such as an advanced infrared sensor) that can be mixed and matched via AI-enhanced networks.

“DoD is a customer like any other, with a future need for servicing its own satellites to extend mission life,” says Astroscale US President Ron Lopez.

Presumptive Deputy Defense Secretary Norquist pledged to “revise budget review timelines and data collection standards to maximize senior leader decision-making quality and timing.”

“End-to-end encryption of all communications and data, differential privacy, and secure communications for all users are likely to be the new reality,” says a new DARPA-funded study.

DARPA’s LogX program will move DoD logistics and supply chain data to the cloud.

“The external and internal communication regarding [DoD] smallsat strategy is not consistent and not clear,” Carissa Christensen, CEO of Bryce Space and Technologies, said wryly.

“Physics are physics,” says Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space. “There are still some things for which a geostationary approach makes more sense. There are other areas that a Low Earth Orbit makes more sense, and everything in between.”