WASHINGTON \u2014 The Air Force Research Laboratory broke ground on its new facility to study space weather and how it affects military systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Located at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Skywave Technology Laboratory will provide workspace for the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate\u2019s space environment research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That work \u201cinvolves developing and testing new instrumentation, preparing for field experiments around the globe, as well as collecting and processing data to support ionospheric and radio frequency research,\u201d according to a statement from Todd Parris, the lead for AFRL\u2019s Geospace Environment Impacts and Applications Branch. \u201cWe have been working out of temporary shipping containers and from our lab across base. It\u2019s exciting to have this new facility to explore innovative capabilities to bring to the war fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AFRL develops new technologies for the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force, and understanding the space environment is important to both, Col. Eric Felt, Space Vehicles Directorate director, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe space environment affects many military systems and services, everything from the actual spacecraft operating in the environment to any radio frequency service that has to operate in or through space.\u201d Felt said. \u201cThis lab will give us the knowledge we need to take our research to the next level. We want to be able to measure, predict and command the space environment to give us that tactical advantage in space and terrestrial domains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 3,500-square-foot facility will cost $3.5 million to construct, with 72 acres to test large antennas and distributed sensor arrays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis exceptional site allows us to develop and test space environment sensing technologies for US military applications,\u201d said Parris. \u201cIt leverages local observations and commercial, academic and government partner facilities and systems across the United States to collect information about the dynamics of near-earth space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AFRL says the facility will be ready in early 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Skywave Technology Laboratory will support the Air Force Research Laboratory’s space weather studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,33,163,36,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3385],"class_list":["post-14011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-military-space-report","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LVDJM2HWWFG6LOEXGWO2W7YC7I","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2021\/03\/18\/air-force-begins-construction-of-new-space-environment-lab\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n