A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 501 rocket carrying the USSF-7 mission for the U.S. Space Force launched on May 17, 9:14 a.m. EDT, from Space Launch Complex-41, the agency reported on Monday. 

ULA reported the launch on Friday. With the launch, the agency has made its 84th successful tak off of an Atlas V rocket, 139th launch for ULA, the second launch for the U.S. Space Force and the sixth flight of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-6).

"The success of this mission resulted from collaboration with our customer while working through challenging, and ever changing, health and safety conditions," said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs. 

Along with OTV-6, ULA also deployed FalconSat-8, a small satellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy and sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to conduct experiments on orbit. 

The mission also carried two NASA experiments, including a material sample plate to determine the results of radiation and other space effects on various materials and an experiment which will assess space effects on seeds used to grow food. 

Another experiment sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory will examine the ability to transform solar power into radio frequency microwave energy which could be transmitted to the ground.

ULA launched aboard an Atlas V 501 configuration rocket that included a 5-meter-diameter payload fairing. The Atlas booster was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine, and the Centaur upper stage was powered by the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine.

ULA's next launch is NASA's Mars 2020 mission carrying the Perseverance rover on an Atlas V rocket. The launch is scheduled for July 2020 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

"We were honored to partner with the U.S. Space Force to dedicate this mission to first responders, front-line workers, and those affected by COVID-19. It is truly a unique time in our history and I want to thank the entire team for their continued dedication and focus on mission success," added Wentz. 

About ULA

With more than a century of combined heritage, ULA is the world's most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully launched more than 135 missions to orbit that provide Earth observation capabilities, enable global communications, unlock the mysteries of our solar system, and support life-saving technology.

The Department of Commerce’s bureau of industry and security is amending its direct product rule to restrict access of China-based telecommunications equipment company Huawei to semiconductors that overseas foundries produced using U.S. technologies and software as part of efforts to protect national security.

“Despite the Entity List actions the Department took last year, Huawei and its foreign affiliates have stepped-up efforts to undermine these national security-based restrictions through an indigenization effort.  However, that effort is still dependent on U.S. technologies,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement published Friday.

“We must amend our rules exploited by Huawei and HiSilicon and prevent U.S. technologies from enabling malign activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” Ross added.

Under the new rule, Export Administration Regulations will apply to chipsets and related items produced by foreign companies using U.S. technologies and based on design specifications of Huawei and affiliates on the Entity List. Such items shipped within 120 days from the rule’s effective date are not subject to the licensing requirements.

The bureau placed Huawei and 114 of its affiliates on the Entity List in May 2019 due to national security concerns.

Guy Cavallo, deputy chief information officer of the Small Business Administration (SBA), told Federal News Network in an interview published Friday that SBA plans to implement a zero-trust framework to continue to develop its cybersecurity strategy and tools.

“Our next step is to take all of this to every one of the 115 different SBA locations to zero trust networking and break apart from everything being connected and once you are on the SBA network, you are trusted, to not trust anything,” he said on the network’s Ask the CIO program.

Cavallo cited how the Department of Homeland Security’s TIC and Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation programs have helped SBA advance its transition to a zero-trust model. He also discussed SBA’s pilot initiatives to test the zero-trust framework and network modernization effort as part of its transition to the new model.

“Because of the cloud tools we are using, those cloud tools will allow us, in effect, [to] be the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) for each one of those 100-plus locations and see the same dashboards that we are seeing now through the traditional MTIPS approach. That for us will be a revolutionary change.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to invest $5 million in research to fortify U.S. health care against the COVID-19 pandemic. HHS said Thursday that its Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality seeks multi-method, coronavirus-related studies that would generate initial results within six months.

“This funding will help us understand, as rapidly as we can, the ways in which our health systems were successful or challenged during the response to the COVID-19 virus,” said Alex Azar, HHS secretary.

The effort aims to improve health care, ensure patient safety and study COVID-19’s effects on vulnerable communities during and even after the pandemic. The $5 million funding opportunity may support projects across all settings of health care such as primary care, home nursing, pharmacy and hospital activity.

The Defense Digital Service and the U.S. Space Force have decided to virtually conduct an already-planned satellite hacking competition.

Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-A-Sat will commence virtually in a qualification event scheduled for May 22 to 24, USSF said Wednesday. The decision to conduct the event virtually stems from the DEF CON hacking convention's cancellation. The event got canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Qualifying participants will advance to the finale in August where they will attempt to reverse-engineer satellite systems and get past planted software codes. USSF, the U.S. Air Force, DDS and DEF CON are working to jointly promote aerospace cybersecurity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Being part of the DEF CON community and learning from its experts to pinpoint vulnerabilities before they’re exposed in battle will keep our troops safer,” said Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics.