3D render of planet Earth viewed from space, with night lights in Europe and sun rising over Asia. Blue hue treatment. Elements from NASA (https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/57000/57752/land_shallow_topo_2048.jpg)

The Defense Innovation Unit and U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command (SSC) have awarded True Anomaly and Northrop Grumman [NOC] Geosynchronous High-Resolution Optical Space-Based Tactical Reconnaissance (GHOST-R) prototype contracts to deliver "lower-cost" reconnaissance satellites to orbit by 2028 for the Geosynchronous Reconnaissance & Surveillance Constellation (RG-XX). GHOST-R "leverages commercially developed space vehicles, buses, and electro-optical payloads to deliver high-resolution space-to-space imagery for characterizing resident space objects in GEO," SSC said on Friday. GHOST-R is to leverage "rapid prototyping to push…