Article link: SpaceX launches two satellites for Arctic broadband mission – SpaceNews

August 11, 2024

Two communication satellites were launched on August 11th for the Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM). Space Norway is a state-owned enterprise that provides space communication services for government, defense, and commercial partners. The ASBM satellites are being used to provide broadband communications over the North Pole and high latitude areas. Each satellite carries the US military’s Enhanced Polar System-Recapitalization (EPS-R) for secure comms, an X-band payload for the Norwegian Armed Forces, a Global Xpress Ka-band for Viasat, and a Norwegian Radiation Monitor payload. The satellites were built by Northrop Grumman.

There are several payloads on these satellites that could be of interest to a bad actor. There are applications of this satellite system to government, defense, and commercial partners that increases the level of impact that this system has. A bad actor could be interested in interfering with the EPS-R comms, interfering the X-band payload comms, interfering with Viasat’s Ka-band comms, or understanding how the Norwegian Radiation Monitor payload operates. A bad actor could access the payloads of the system by thoroughly collecting information about how each of the payloads transmits to the ground or how the communications work. Since Northrop Grumman is the producer of the satellite system, they are probably the most useful source for understanding how the system operates.