Space Force picks a dozen for $237M tech development, demonstration contract
Gettyimages.com / Yuichiro Chino
By
Ross Wilkers
The service branch wants to establish a base of commercial spacecraft suppliers that can supply systems on a more rapid turn.
Space Force has awarded 12 companies positions on a 10-year, $232 million contract to develop satellites and other spacecraft as part of broader efforts to lean more on commercial-like approaches for technology advancement.
The Space Test Experiments Platform 2.0 contract will see awardees compete for delivery orders to build the platforms, which could include satellite buses, and integrate them with emerging technologies for future demonstrations.
Space Force officials received 21 proposals for the contract, according to the Pentagon’s Wednesday awards digest. Payload integration, launch, on-orbit support and anomaly detection are also part of the overall STEP 2.0 requirement.
Awardees from industry and academia are as follows:
- Axient
- Blue Canyon Technologies, an RTX subsidiary
- General Atomics
- Lockheed Martin
- Loft Orbital’s federal subsidiary
- Lynk Global
- Orbit Systems
- Spire Global
- Turion Space
- Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems
- Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory
- York Space Systems
STEP 2.0 is part of the Space Test Program, under which Space Force works with other defense and civilian agencies to carry out full demonstrations of emerging technologies. The idea is to ensure the tech is suitable for mission use before scaling it.
Space Force also set up the STEP 2.0 contract to establish a base of commercial spacecraft suppliers it can acquire systems from on a more rapid turn. That signals how Space Force wants systems that are proven to have worked in commercial missions.