New Satellite Trains Space Force Guardians on Cyber Defense

The Moonlighter imaging satellite that NASA and SpaceX launched in June served as the platform for the U.S. Space Force Cyber Guardians’ cyber defense training exercise from Nov. 14 to 17. Dubbed Moonlighter after its sandbox, the training also focused on the Guardians’ cyber offense capabilities, dividing the participants into an offensive Red Team and a defensive Blue Team. 

According to Capt. Eric Lu, 527th Space Aggressor Squadron adversary cyber flight technical director, the exercise provided a foundation for the squadron’s “know, teach, replicate mission” in response to the space-cyber domain’s evolving threats, DVIDS reported.

Lu added that the on-orbit satellite provided “an exceptional training environment,” which encouraged growth and adaptability and enabled the Guardians’ execution of defensive cyber strategies, methods and procedures.  

The Moonlighter satellite is a 3U CubeSat developed by Aerospace Corp., the Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Space Systems Command. It is billed as the world’s first and only space-based hacking sandbox. 

The inaugural event for the satellite was the Space Systems Command’s Hack-a-Sat 4 competition held from Aug. 11 to 13, which was won by a conglomerate of five Italian cyber research teams.