Are we still awaiting a winner for this mission?Related:https://www.orbitalatk.com/news-room/release.asp?prid=216
In Air Force's 3rd competitive EELV award, ULA wins $191M contract to launch Space Test Program 3 mission from Cape Canaveral in June 2019.
United Launch Services LLC has been awarded a $191,141,581 firm-fixed-price contract for launch services, to deliver the Space Test Program-3 (STP-3) satellite to its intended orbit. Contractor will provide launch vehicle production, mission integration, launch operations, spaceflight worthiness and mission unique activities for an STP-3 mission. Work will be performed at Centennial, Colorado; Decatur, Alabama; and Cape Canaveral, Florida, with an initial launch capability date of June 2019 and is expected to be complete by Aug. 31, 2019. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with two proposals received. Fiscal 2017 space procurement; and research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $184,905,023 are being obligated at the time of award. Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8811-17-C-0008).
Mighty Atlas: Atlas V 551 with a propulsive ESPA
So, if SpaceX came in at a much lower price for this bid, what type of motivation would the Air Force need to provide to justify awarding it to another provider at a much higher price?
Quote from: M.E.T. on 06/30/2017 11:49 amSo, if SpaceX came in at a much lower price for this bid, what type of motivation would the Air Force need to provide to justify awarding it to another provider at a much higher price?The STPSat 6 is to be delivered directly into GEO. As far as I know that is not a service SpaceX can offer yet.
Quote from: calapine on 06/30/2017 12:49 pmQuote from: M.E.T. on 06/30/2017 11:49 amSo, if SpaceX came in at a much lower price for this bid, what type of motivation would the Air Force need to provide to justify awarding it to another provider at a much higher price?The STPSat 6 is to be delivered directly into GEO. As far as I know that is not a service SpaceX can offer yet.But it can be done with a propulsive ESPA
Quote from: M.E.T. on 06/30/2017 11:49 amSo, if SpaceX came in at a much lower price for this bid, what type of motivation would the Air Force need to provide to justify awarding it to another provider at a much higher price?Falcon Heavy hasn't flown or been certified yet.
Good win for ULA. Per a source, SpaceX had to compete with Falcon Heavy for this mission, and therefore expected to lose.
The payload for STP-3 will be the STPSat-6 vehicle with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3, an experimental blast detection system. It will also carry NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration payload and six secondary payloads the Air Force said would be announced no later than a year prior to launch.
John Taylor, a spokesman for SpaceX, said in a statement that “the mission performance required that we bid Falcon Heavy,” a rocket that is still in the process of receiving final certification from the government for military launches.“We did submit a bid, but with the knowledge that our first Falcon Heavy flight might occur after the time of the award,” Taylor said. “Given we have not flown Falcon Heavy, we did not anticipate winning this mission.”SMC Launch Enterprise Director Claire Leon told reporters Friday that the price for the launch was lower than in the sole-sourced era, and that she believed the competition between ULA and SpaceX had gotten taxpayers a better price.
This article explains pretty clearly why ULA won this contract. See quotes below which expand on the Tweets above.ULA wins competition for $191 million Air Force launchQuoteThe payload for STP-3 will be the STPSat-6 vehicle with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3, an experimental blast detection system. It will also carry NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration payload and six secondary payloads the Air Force said would be announced no later than a year prior to launch.QuoteJohn Taylor, a spokesman for SpaceX, said in a statement that “the mission performance required that we bid Falcon Heavy,” a rocket that is still in the process of receiving final certification from the government for military launches.“We did submit a bid, but with the knowledge that our first Falcon Heavy flight might occur after the time of the award,” Taylor said. “Given we have not flown Falcon Heavy, we did not anticipate winning this mission.”SMC Launch Enterprise Director Claire Leon told reporters Friday that the price for the launch was lower than in the sole-sourced era, and that she believed the competition between ULA and SpaceX had gotten taxpayers a better price.http://spacenews.com/ula-wins-competition-for-191-million-air-force-launch/
Nice to see that the US taxpayer gets a better deal even when SpaceX doesn't win the launch. Just having SpaceX around is enough to have ULA offer a better deal to the USG.
The competiton is going to be heating up over the next few years. I read that with the announcements yesterday all cores in the block buy have now been assigned.
