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Even former U.S. Air Force Major “Jolly” Rogers worries about a space war. “Conflict exists on a continuum that begins with competition and ends with all-out conflict like the one we see in Ukraine,” he says. The United States is already “in active competition with Russia and China for freedom of action and control of the outer space,” he added. And it’s evolving very quickly. “
So, on January 26th of last year, a former U.S. Air Force Major founded True Anomaly, Inc to “solve the most difficult orbital warfare problems for the U.S. Space Force.” murmured.
True Anomaly is currently preparing for its first orbital mission, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In October, True Anomaly hopes to launch her two Jackal “orbit-chasing” spacecraft aboard a SpaceX rocket into low-Earth orbit. The Jackal does not carry guns, warheads, or laser blasters, but is capable of Rendezvous Proximity Operations (RPO). This is the ability to maneuver near other satellites and train their battery of sensors. This could reveal rival surveillance and weapons systems or intercept communications.
In the first mission, dubbed Demo-1, the Jackals simply spy on each other by using thrusters, radar, and multispectral cameras to get within a few hundred meters. If that goes well, Rogers will deploy thousands of autonomous spacecraft to the U.S. military, controlled by human operators and his team of AIs, “to track the enemy wherever they are, and a tool of accountability.” is intended to provide
These tools begin with understanding the technology that America’s adversaries are deploying in space. “But it will require active defense,” says Rogers, now CEO of True Anomaly. “If you’re serious about the job of defending and protecting your domain, you need the ability to perform joint maneuver and fire functions.” The military often uses “fire” to mean kinetic weapons such as guns and artillery shells. but in a space context it usually refers to jamming, electronic warfare, and cyberattacks.
Nothing on True Anomaly’s website suggests that they are developing their own offensive weapons.But in a series of posts last summer, Rogers murmured: “Tactically neutralizing an enemy spacecraft can be the difference between losing an entire carrier strike group or surviving…and destroying the spacecraft without destroying the environment. There are many ways. After all, they are just floating computers.”
