Short Takes – 10-21-24

Congress’ to-do list grows while on the campaign trail. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Conservatives bullish of former President Trump’s chances of winning back the White House had been pushing for Congress to punt the next funding deadline into early 2025. Proponents of the strategy say it would allow Trump more input over government funding, while also decreasing the likelihood of Congress squeezing through another massive, end-of-year omnibus funding package.”

Intelligence: Balloon Based Electronic Surveillance. StrategyPage.com article. Pull quote: “Modern aerostat systems have been around since the 1980s and have proliferated as more compact, lightweight and powerful sensors became available. The larger of these blimps are more than twice the size as the more familiar advertising blimps. An aerostat is designed to always turn into the wind and stay in the same place. An aerostat is unpowered, and secured by a cable that can keep the aerostat in position at its maximum altitude of 4,700 meters. At that altitude, a large aerostat can carry a two-ton payload. The cable also supplies power, which means the blimp can stay up for about 30 days at a time before it has to be brought down for maintenance on its radars. Often, two radars are carried. One is for surveillance; the other is a precision track and illumination radar (PTIR). The surveillance radar provides long-range coverage (400 kilometers or more), while the PTIR, which is a steerable system capable of tracking multiple targets, can focus on items of interest. Current aerostats carry a larger array of more capable sensors.”

Study Reveals Potential Top Cyber Threats Facing Health Care XR Technology. NewsWise.com Pull quote: ““The specific cybersecurity and privacy risks presented by XR [extended reality] technology should be considered as a part of system-wide digital risk management frameworks by health organizations, within their proposed context of use, intended purpose, and perceived benefits to health care delivery and individuals”, says Nilufar Baghaei, one of the authors of the article.” Referenced article.

ESA moves forward with Apophis mission preparations. ESA.int article. Pull quote: “The funds will be used to begin the procurement process for certain time-critical or long-lead equipment, as well as to finalise the overall design of the spacecraft while considering the opportunities for international cooperation currently under discussion.”

Agency Information Collection Activities: Incident Reporting Form and Associated Submission Tools (ICR 1670-0037). Federal Register CISA 30-day ICR notice. Includes changes to forms but no burden change. ICR summary: “CISA's website (at https://www.cisa.gov/​) is a primary tool used by constituents to report incident information, access information sharing products and services, and interact with CISA. Constituents, which may include anyone or any entity in the public, use forms located on the website to complete these activities. Incident reports are primarily submitted using CISA's internet reporting system, available at https://www.cisa.gov/​forms/​report. CISA collects cyber threat indicators and defensive measures in accordance with the requirements of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 through CISA's Cyber Threat Indicator and Defensive Measure Submission System, https://www.cisa.gov/​forms/​share-indicators. CISA shares cyber threat indicators and defensive measures it receives with certain federal entities in an automated and real-time manner. 6 U.S.C. 1504(c).” Comments due November 20^th, 2024.

Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities. Federal Register PHMSA 30-day ICR notice. Three ICR renewals with no burden changes: Flammable Cryogenic Liquids, Response Plans for Shipments of Oil, and Requirements for United Nations (UN) Cylinders. Comments due November 20^th, 2024. The 60-day ICR notice was published on May 10^th, 2024.

Ground systems could delay Artemis 2 launch. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: ““While EGS [Exploration Ground Systems] elements are close to completion, the program has no schedule margin for these remaining activities,” the GAO report stated. While issues with Orion led NASA in January to delay the Artemis 2 launch by nearly a year, to September 2025, that slip provided only three months of schedule margin to EGS. That schedule margin was consumed by June, the report stated, because of issues with testing the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B.