The head of the U.S. Air Force said today that the military needs to wean itself off dependence on a GPS network vulnerable to jamming and satellite-killing vehicles. DOD Buzz reports that officials have confirmed that GPS has been "jammed or interfered with recently."

The leader of U.S. Strategic Command says so few satellites are in queue now for launch for critical missions--such as weather observation satcom or ballistic missile warning--that there is a risk of service gaps that could impede the military's ability to do its job.

U.S. military officials increasingly worry that U.S. satellites are vulnerable to airborne assault, or even mere accident, in the Southern Hemisphere which has become something of a blind spot for military space tracking systems.

There are serious challenges ahead in mitigating space clutter now orbiting the Earth, problems that are exacerbated by the rise of small satellite launchings as well as using debris removal techniques that mimic anti-satellite systems.

To resolve the growing space debris problem, several experts have suggested levying a service fee on all spacecraft owners and using the collected funds as a 'bounty' to encourage operators to help safely deorbit or remove the largest pieces of space debris.

For the first time, scientists have pinpointed where an Earthbound space storm would strike when it crashed into the atmosphere, helping give advance warning of its arrival. These findings suggest researchers could soon help give better and better forecasts as to when these solar storms might wreak havoc on spacecraft and on Earth.

The Global Positioning System faces the possibility of failures and blackouts, a federal watchdog agency has warned the U.S. Congress. Mismanagement by and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force places the GPS at risk of failure in 2010 and beyond.

Nonproliferation experts yesterday recommended the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution to spell out the difference between a ballistic missile launch and a space vehicle launch. The ambiguity between the two kinds of events has been of particular importance in the wake of North Korea's April 5 rocket launch.

The U.S. is exploring the use of commercial satellites to enhance ship identification and communication for the battle against piracy.

The author discusses current research into detecting enhanced infrared radiation from ground stations and outer space as a way of detecting earthquakes before they happen.