The National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) has reported that a cyber security incident which occurred on the 1st August has prompted the lab to temporarily halt operations at its Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and Gemini South Telescope in Chile.
Other, smaller telescopes on Cerro Tololo in Chile were also affected.
A statement posted on NOIRLab’s website on the 24th August confirmed the cybersecurity incident which caused the telescope shutdown, but also that of the website gemini.edu. At the time of writing, the website is still unavailable and the URL redirects back to the NOIRLab domain which displays a notification of the websites availability
Timely attack? or coincidence?
The attack against the NOIRLab network came 2 weeks before the US The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) released a bulletin warning organisations involved in space exploration development that malicious actors could use cyber attacks, shell companies and espionage to collect sensitive information about US space capabilities or innovative technologies.
The warning also mentioned the use of counter-space systems in satellite jamming attacks, or hacking satellites to degrade capabilities.
Back in May, Thales, the French aeronautical, transportation and communications company announced that they had become the first organisation to ever successfully hack a satellite – This was not a cyber attack, but a competition to see if, and how an attack could occur – see my post about this below:
Not the first time space has been targeted
This is not the first time that the space industry has been the target of a cyber attack.
In 2021, NASA was affected by the worldwide SolarWinds breach, which wasn’t a direct attack on the agency, but was a wake up call for them in terms of exposure to outside attacks.
In October 2022, hackers disrupted operations at the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile
Space defenders
With space becoming ever more a place for research, exploration, and militarisation, it comes a no surprise hat there is a growing need for defence in space.
In 2021, the UK created the United Kingdom Space Command – an arm of the RAF which operates out of RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire, and RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.
PROTECTING THE UK’S INTEREST IN SPACE
Disruption to the UK’s use of space, or the use of space by the UK’s allies, could significantly affect civilian, commercial, and defence activity.
UK Space Command personnel monitor space 24/7, 365 days a year, to protect the UK’s interests in space.
Global space defence
The UK isn’t the only country to build a space protection team, the US created its own Space Force as an arm of the US Air Force in 2019 with similar aims to that of the UK, Australia (Defence Space Command), New Zealand(New Zealand Defence Force), Canada (3 Canadian Space Division), France (Commandement de l’Espace), Germany (Weltraumkommando), Russia (Космические войска России), and China (中国人民解放军战略支援部队)
In a bizarre event, the German air force decided to invite Darth Vader and other members of the Empire to the opening of its headquarters in Uedem in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany.