Short Takes – 7-1-24

Honeywell sees space opportunity with $1.9 billion CAES acquisition. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Honeywell, which is helping qualify satellite laser communications terminals for the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, is present in multiple markets, including aviation and energy. The group reported $36.7 billion in revenue for 2023.”

NASA and SpaceX misjudged the risks from reentering space junk. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: “"During its initial design, the Dragon spacecraft trunk was evaluated for reentry breakup and was predicted to burn up fully," NASA said in a statement. "The information from the debris recovery provides an opportunity for teams to improve debris modeling. NASA and SpaceX will continue exploring additional solutions as we learn from the discovered debris."”

DISA grapples with mounting ‘technology debt’ amid evolving cyber threats. BreakingDefense.com article. Pull quote: ““Let’s continue to still have clear resources on legacy [systems] to make sure that they’re secure and defending our DODIN [DoD Information Network], but in the meantime, also rushing to the horizon to say now, ‘How do we move off of this so we can do better?’ So we can free up capacity and resources to be able to do the things that our warfighters need.””

Chinese Rocket Accidentally Launches During Test, Then Crashes. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: ““Multiple things probably would have had to go wrong for this failure to happen the way it did,” Dr. Tucker said, adding that although China’s national space program was advanced, its commercial space industry is fairly young.”