El Segundo, Calif.-based ABL Space Systems has received a $15 million contract from the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) office for responsive launch, SSC said on Sept. 18.
The small business innovation research award from AATS’ Small Launch and Targets Division at Kirtland AFB, N.M., comes under the $60 million Strategic Funding Initiative by SSC and the Air Force Research Laboratory “to develop a launch mission design that incorporates planning for numerous satellites to multiple orbits from a variety of locations and conduct a proof-of-concept responsive launch,” per SSC.
The tactically responsive space concept encompasses rapid launch of satellites, multiple orbits, trajectories, and launch sites.
“The Space Force is committed to growing Tactically Responsive Space capabilities, including launch, space, and ground segments, to meet the needs of combatant commanders,” Lt. Col. Justin Beltz, chief of SSC’s Small Launch and Targets Division, said in a statement. “This mission area is evolving quickly, and it’s important we continue to push the bounds of speed, responsiveness, and flexibility.”
Last week, SSC launched the VICTUS NOX tactically responsive space mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., within 24 of launch notice, SSC said (Defense Daily, Sept. 15).
Firefly Aerospace Alpha launch vehicle lifted a Boeing [BA] Millennium Space Systems-built space domain awareness satellite into low-Earth orbit.
The “responsive space” phrase carries into corporate strategy as well as the military operational side.
This month, satellite provider Terran Orbital [LLAP], more than one-third owned by Lockheed Martin [LMT], announced its Responsive Space Initiative to deliver satellite buses to customers within 30 days and compete satellite systems, including integrated payloads, within 60 days (Defense Daily, Sept. 11).
As part of the initiative, Terran has opened a 60,000 square-foot satellite plant in Irvine, Calif., to add to the 38,000 square feet already there. The company said that the expansion will double production capacity in Irvine. Terran Orbital switched late last year from a strategy of providing synthetic aperture radar data as a service to building satellite buses, including those for Lockheed Martin’s Transport Layer satellites for the Space Development Agency.