Marlis McCollum

Commercial space operations are becoming more frequent—whether to put communications satellites in orbit, resupply the International Space Station, or give space tourists a view of Earth from the Karman line. All this intensifies pressure on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to process commercial space launch approvals faster than ever before. A MITRE team is heading an effort to help the FAA accomplish that.

Soon, airports throughout the United States will have a best-practices guide they can use to prepare for a GPS disruption event, thanks to more than two years of MITRE research, in collaboration with aviation stakeholders at two of the nation’s airports. The U.S. aviation system relies heavily on GPS, so disruptions of this vital source of position, navigation, and timing information can temporarily cripple aviation operations at airports.

Cell phone communications, GPS navigation, television, and national defense systems have one thing in common: They all rely on access to the radio spectrum. But the usable spectrum is limited, and demand for it is growing. As a result, the federal government is modernizing its approach to spectrum management.