COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Staring at the computer screen in an office complex not too far from Schriever and Peterson Space Force Bases, a Guardian had a rapidly diminishing timer with only eight minutes left to carefully type in the complex computer code needed to hack an enemy satellite.
The low-Earth orbit satellite, which was traveling at roughly 18,000 miles an hour, was reportedly gathering intelligence about U.S. military assets across the Midwest, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Seaboard on four passes — leaving only a small contact window in which the Guardians could work to stop the enemy from collecting photos and reconnaissance.
Their plan was to slowly redirect the satellite’s camera away from its intended targets by a few degrees each pass, a subtle averted gaze so as not to arouse suspicion. But if the enemy noticed any small changes, the Guardians’ cover could be blown. One young specialist came up with the idea to send the operator false data, so the enemy would think it was business as usual. Then, once their mission was complete, they’d hack into the logs and erase them, hiding all traces they were even there.
A single mistype could shut down the whole operation or, worse, blow their cover. After the eight minutes, a quiet settled into the laboratory as the contact window closed and connection with the enemy’s satellite was lost. It would be another hour before another pass and a chance to inflict further damage on the enemy. In the downtime, the Guardians grabbed snacks, checked their text messages and, at one point, talked about comic book collections.
The November exercise — a simulation put on at the nonprofit Stephenson Stellar Corporation’s headquarters in Colorado Springs — was targeting the “People’s Republic of Atlantica,” a “small but potent threat” that has “assumed a partnership with a great Power Competitor.” The imagined scenario offered a rare glimpse into the very real approaches that Space Force Guardians could use to hack, defend, operate and control an enemy’s satellite, strategies the service remains tight-lipped about as it tries to preserve a competitive edge.
On Dec. 20, the Space Force is celebrating four years as a service. The smallest military branch, with around 8,600 service members, it’s shrouded in more secrecy than many of the others, leading to a seemingly perpetual question from the public: “What does the Space Force do?”
——
The Space Force of 2019 looked a lot different than the service preparing to take on 2024’s challenges. Kari Bingen, director of the Aerospace Security Project and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Military.com that the service worked on setting up the basics for the first couple of years.
Now, especially as threats grow in Europe, the Pacific and, most recently, in the Middle East, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance B. Saltzman has been showcasing how the Space Force can be there to help. “They spent the last three or four years doing organizational changes,” Bingen said. “But now he’s really tweaking it to posture them for combatant command and operational support, the same way that you see the other services be able to present forces and capabilities to combatant commanders who then execute warfighting operations.”
In another important milestone for the service, U.S. Space Command — the combatant command for all military operations in space — reached full operational capability last week following a years-long political battle over whether it would be based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, or Huntsville, Alabama. “As the command has matured, challenges to a safe, secure, stable, and sustainable space domain have significantly increased,” Army Gen. James Dickinson, head of U.S. Space Command, said in a press release. “Both the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation are fielding counter space capabilities designed to hold U.S., allied and partner space assets at risk. And North Korea and Iran are in the early stages of developing their space enterprise.”
The Space Force is tasked with training and preparing Guardians to meet those challenges, which are evolving every day. Stephenson Stellar’s initiative, the Stellar Space Cyber Range, is being supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory, which awarded the group a $22.7 million contract in 2021. The goal, Stephenson Stellar CEO and President Jeff Moulton told Military.com, is to get more funding to eventually launch four CubeSats, a type of microsatellite, into low-Earth orbit that participants in the training will be able to maneuver, hack and practice with in real time. “You have to have that real environment to practice,” Moulton said. “And no one’s going to let you practice on their satellites, and that’s what we were trying to do.” Training in real-world environments is becoming only more important as global tensions from adversaries such as China and Russia grow.
Comment: There’s a lot more to this article at the link, but these excerpts were the most interesting to me. I think that satellite hacking exercise is going to be characteristic of what both Space Force and SPACECOM will be doing in wartime besides the largely logistical functions of keeping our satellites in orbit and functioning properly. Looks like a lot of overlap with CYBERCOM. It will be interesting to see the Space Force contribution to CYBERCOM Combat Mission Teams develop.
I’m also pretty sure that the Stellar Space Cyber Range wouldn’t exist without the Space Force advocating for such resources. I remember that was a prime reason why Colonel Lang was such an enthusiastic supporter of Space Force. But I also think he was hoping for eventually fielding some kind of force prepared to take on the aliens. They’re now managing the highly secretive Space Plane which just began another of its long term missions so maybe Pat was on to something.
TTG
The thought comes to mind, this could be a treasure trove for a capable FIS. It’s a brand new service and probably needs to find or train its own Counter Inelligence assts to fit its unique mission.
Wow.
Speaking of possible aliens, and the more recognized UAP, let me recommend two articles and a video on UAP:
Dozens Of Government UFO Whistleblowers Have Given Testimony To Congress, Pentagon, And Inspectors General, Say Sources
Despite the growing number of UFO/UAP whistleblowers, the military and the intelligence communities are fighting greater disclosure
MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER, ANDREW MOHAR, AND PHOEBE SMITH
SEP 25, 2023
https://public.substack.com/p/dozens-of-government-ufo-whistleblowers
Congress hunts for illegal UFO programs as the media shrug
BY MARIK VON RENNENKAMPFF
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4367689-congress-hunts-for-illegal-ufo-programs-as-the-media-shrug/
And here is a remarkably informative video with former DoD intelligence honcho Christopher Mellon, with some excerpts I found interesting:
https://youtu.be/aUUOracxDQY
12m25s
CUOMO: What is your baseline understanding of
why the level of disclosure to the American public about anything related to UFOs or UAP or whatever you want to call them
is zero?
…
13m35s
MELLON: Someone in the bureaucracy created what they call a “classification guide”
that took the extreme position that anything to do with UAP
shold automatically be classified…
…
—-
18m05s
[F]ormer DNI Ratcliffe mentioned that we have satellite imagery of UAP.
He didn’t describe it, he didn’t go further in that description.
I think if that information were released or characterized it would go a considerable way towards helping the public and scientific community better understand what we’re dealing with.
I’m aware of some of this information.
The problem is that many of these same sensors are used to support warfighting
and there is legitimate concern about compromising anything that gives our people an edge in combat.
Some of these sensors, the public and our adversaries don’t even know exist.
Some of the most useful sensors in some cases are that highly classified and secret.
There are other cases like satellite imagery
where the issue is trying to disguise the degree of resolution that we can get, and that sort of thing to make it harder for adversaries to plan around it.
Sometimes they don’t draw the line in the right place, even some DoD officials have acknowledged to me.
…
But we do run into a legitimate problem in many cases with trying to share the information without compromising the capability.
———
30m30s
[T]here absolutely is information the government has not shared
and there’s information they haven’t even shared with Congress,
classified information and that gets a bit arcane and complex.
How seriously is Congress taking this UAP business?
Specifically, issues involving private ownership of UAP-related material.
Take a look at Covington’s analysis of provisions related to such in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=15d9c2fc-9c48-420d-aad3-1165e71f1498
This is very serious stuff.
If there were nothing there,
why would Congress waste its time passing such detailed requirements?
For a further look at some issues involved in
“Who owns NHI-related material, if it exists?”, see
https://thedebrief.org/regulation-v-eminent-domain-an-alternate-approach-to-the-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-disclosure-act-of-2023/
“a look at
the implications, ethical challenges, and legal complexities tied to
applying eminent domain to
technology of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence (NHI)”
As to my view on this stuff,
I have no reason to believe NHI exists.
OTOH, I have no reason to believe it DOESN’T exist.
I see no reason to take a firm position one way or the other.
But some very serious people, e.g. Chuck Schumer, are certainly looking at issues that might arise.
Are they wasting their time?
Maybe.
But we can’t be sure of that.
Keith Harbaugh,
Senators Schumer and Rounds may feel the same way you do. They don’t know whether UFOs, UAPs and/or NHI exists or not, but they want contingency plans established in case they do. I applaud their foresight. BTW, if one wants to find biological evidence of non-human intelligence, all one has to do is take a long walk in a forest with eyes and mind open.
I wrote a Poem about The Garden Fairys..The Irish Have All sorts of Magical Events…and The
Walks in The Woods Are Good for The Soul…
You might even See Bigfoot…Or a Big Herd of Mule Deer..walking thier Path..One After The Other..To The Base of The Mountains..Early in the Morning..To Graze..in The Sunshine..While Mountain Goats Gaze Down..Magic Monents..
Jim
All One Really Has to Do…..Is Reread the Dedication to Colonel Lang.Up At The Top..
He and Marcus….
Gather All The Infromation. In Your Mind..
And Renew it…Update…To The Here and Now..
Its Really…All About..The Second Reappearance
of The “BETTER ONE”…Who Wore a PURPLE
Robe..In the Clouds..To Be Seen..
Colonel LANG,,Believed That..Clearly..Openly..
and Im Sure..that Marcus..Would Like The Lord..
Too…..
..Taking Human Intelligence..To the Source…
jim
Senators Schumer and Rounds conducted an extremely significant seven minute colloquy, on the floor of the Senate, on
the difference between
the Senate-passed UAP Amendment of 2023 and
what passed the full Congress in the NDAA of 2024:
https://youtu.be/Z8a0P617nqw
“Many credible sources”
Senator Schumer expresses his outrage over the emasculation of his 2023 amendment in a Tweet:
https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1735006291808969029
“It is an outrage the House didn’t work with us on our UAP proposal for a review board.
This means declassification of UAP records will be up to the same entities that have blocked and obfuscated their disclosure for decades.”
There’s a first for most things. Do you believe there’s no billion year old teeth? These scientists seem to think teeth are newcomers.
Well then I have one question – how did anyone chew their food a billion years ago, huh?
God invents living things including animals. Forgets to make teeth? Ok. They lived on smoothies – makes sense, finally. Then who t f invented teeth – the devil? Makes sense. He’s the devil isn’t he?
————————————————
https://earthsky.org/earth/ancient-armored-fish-had-the-first-teeth/
First teeth found in ancient armored fish.
Posted by
Planet Earth Online
October 22, 2012
Around 430 to 360 million years ago, fierce-looking armored fish called placoderms roamed the world’s oceans. Most illustrations show them with jaws and teeth. But whether or not they actually had what we’d now describe as teeth has long been the subject of intense debate among scientists. Did placoderms have the first teeth?
Now, using a particle-accelerator called a synchrotron, a U.K.-led team of researchers discovered that these early jawed fish did indeed have pearly gnashers. And probably sharp ones at that.
The findings matter, because the development of both jaws and teeth are thought to be a pre-requisite for the evolution of vertebrates: birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, including us. Dr. Martin Rücklin from the University of Bristol is lead author of the study, published in Nature. Rücklin said: (see link but there’s nothing about the devil).
——————-
And here’s what the space cadets will be listening to. If they’re lucky.
Grateful Dead – China Cat Sunflower / Rider 1990
https://youtu.be/QFhH8sSIvsA
Bertha -Grateful Dead .. Orchard Park NY ’89
https://youtu.be/0bzq24rxUNE
TTG –
Too bad they didn’t send false data to that ChiCom spy balloon back in February instead of just restricting transmissions of the sites that it overflew. Which BTW included a Space Force Base, six national laboratories, four Naval installations, four Air Force Bases, a few Army Forts, the CIA’s ‘Farm’ and several other critical national defense locations.
https://twitter.com/TheIntelFrog/status/1740866218473521590
leith,
If they did, we’ll never hear about it. I’ve worked such operations.
Can they spot Yemeni drone operators who are shutting down Red Sea traffic and disrupting international trade?
https://new.thecradle.co/articles-id/17151
Fred,
That’s a damned good question. Do we know where those drones and missiles are coming from and just holding back or are the Houthis just that good at hiding?
The Saudi’s have had wonderful Western equipment for years and are still getting their asses kicked by them.
TTG Good articles Interesting Data on Star Wars abd Tge Death Star stuff to see if the FORCE … is capable NSEW ..
Up ..Down ..which often causes
Friction ….
Regards Jim
cyber & aliens? ok, yes… however…
counter-satellite (& associated space-based adversary assets) operations is not to be overlooked. the exo-atmospheric environment presents unique challenges for conducting physical combat. as more nations have demonstrated long-term commitment to space-based assets being core to national security, dominating (or at least surviving) “kinetic” combat entirely in space will be first among many objectives. this is what motivated not only the creation, but the missions & operations of the US Space Force.
The Space War..Cyber.. Kinetic….. AI…Issues..Known and Unknown..For Years It Was All about The Russians Development in The ICC..Until The Government Bankrolled
The Chinese Communist Party..And Everyone Went To That Party..Financed It..Transferred Our TECH to Them…
Right Up Until…Everyone at the Party…Got COVID..and Dr. Fauchi Joined Up As a Cabinet Level Operator..
So Anyone NOT in The Current Loop..Doesnt Know Much.. except Whats Published
And The Space/Alien Issue is Half the Story…UFOs Have Been Seen Rising Out Of Oceans. and.Lakes For Hundreds of Years Recorded By Ships Captains..Right Up To Current Releases By He Navy..of Crat and Hypersonic High Speed Objects Moving Under Water….
So We Have Space AND Earth Issues Of ALL Types With R and D..and COUNTER
Responses.. Including Newsin Popular Mechanic….MSN News with Photos..
Of Recent Announced AFGSC…”Strike Command” Pod Modification Attached to The Wings of the B52 Bomber..
It Will Triple the Planes Capacity To Carry Newly Developed HACM..Hupersonic ATTACK Cruise Missles and the New Conventional..High Speed..Air Breathing Cruise Missle With 1000 Mile Range..
I See Many Other Countries Developing…Drones Weapons…Turkey is a Player..
I see Many of you..Raising Good Questions ..or Issues..Be Well Stay Safe..
Regards Jim