This Special Notice is issued to advise interested parties within the U.S. space technology base that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Space Systems (SS) Program Office anticipates the release of the initial Request for Prototype Proposal (RPP) for the Space Sensor Layer (SSL) Phase IIa - Prototype Payload Design and Signal-chain Processing Risk Reduction Demonstration Project via the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) Other Transaction (OT) Agreement. SSL Phase IIa encompasses a Preliminary Concept Review (PCR) with a signal-chain processing (SCP) demonstration. (SSL was formerly referred to as Missile Defense Tracking System (MTS). The objective of SSL is to develop and test sensing capabilities that will become a part of a Resilient Integrated Multi-tier Overhead Persistent Infrared Enterprise Architecture, addressing warfighter requirements. SSL will be an integral part of a future operational space layer. The RPP will solicit prototype proposals under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2371b for the competitive award of Project Awards/Agreements. The resulting Project Awards/Agreements will not constitute a procurement contract, cooperative agreement or grant agreement for purposes of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subsection 31.205-18, or for any other purpose.
The Space Development Agency plans to award contracts for a mesh network in space this August, with the expectation that an initial batch of 20 satellites will be placed on orbit during summer 2022. The agency expects to release a request for proposals for the contracts May 1.
QuoteThe Space Development Agency plans to award contracts for a mesh network in space this August, with the expectation that an initial batch of 20 satellites will be placed on orbit during summer 2022. The agency expects to release a request for proposals for the contracts May 1.https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/04/06/the-pentagon-will-solicit-its-first-mesh-network-in-space-may-1/
In addition to the presence and training capacity, the military needs to improve its communication infrastructure in the Arctic. Right now, above 65 degrees north latitude, the military’s “traditional means of communication really start breaking down,” O’Shaughnessy said.At 70 degrees, all except the “most exquisite” communications means are broken down, he added.The ongoing proliferation of military communications capability in low-Earth orbit will help address this issue “in the relatively near future,” O’Shaughnessy said, adding that it is “critical as we move forward.”
"The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency is designing a network of satellites in low Earth orbit and anticipates the first 30 spacecraft will be ready to launch by 2022."https://spacenews.com/space-development-agency-scouting-the-market-for-launch-services/
To ensure the PLEO satellite architectures envisioned by Griffin and the Space Development Agency provide their own deterrence, DoD would need a ready supply of replacement satellites and rapid access to launch services so constellations can be replenished quickly and inexpensively.“That is one of the most important things they can do: change the space-lift equation,” he says.Right now, it generally takes years to get a DoD satellite off the ground. One of the Space Force’s challenges, Martindale said, will be to make space launch more like Air Force air operations, where the time line from identifying a target to launching an airstrike is usually measured in minutes or hours.Maybe that’s not realistic in space, says Martindale. But it should be days or weeks. It can’t be years.
Breaking news: The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency selects Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems to produce a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit for military use. Lockheed won a $187.5 million contract. York received a $94 million contract.
SDA Director Derek Tournear just told reporters each company will make 10 satellites with inter-satellite optical links. All 20 will be launched in Sept. 2022
SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCYLockheed Martin Corp., Littleton, Colorado, is awarded a $187,542,461 firm-fixed-price contract for the Space Development Agency Transport Layer Tranche 0. The proposal was received and evaluated under request for proposal HQ0850-20-R-0001. The work to be performed under this contract will include on-time delivery of space vehicles and paths to optical intersatellite link interoperability success. Work will be performed in Littleton, Colorado (54.2%); Irvine, California (24.4%); Backnang, Germany (10.6%); Centennial, Colorado (5.9%); Camarillo, California (1.3%); San Diego, California (1.3%); Tempe, Arizona (0.7%); Quebec, Canada (0.5%); Madrid, Spain (0.4%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (0.3%); Annapolis Junction, Maryland (0.2%); Bedford, New Hampshire. (0.2%); and Ottawa, Canada (0.1%). Fiscal 2020 defense wide research, development, test and evaluation funds will be obligated at the time of award. The Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HQ0850-20-C-0009).York Space Systems,* Denver, Colorado, is awarded a $94,036,666 firm-fixed-price contract for the Space Development Agency Transport Layer Tranche 0. The proposal was received and evaluated under request for proposal HQ0850-20-R-0001. The work to be performed under this contract will include on-time delivery of space vehicles and paths to optical intersatellite link interoperability success. Work will be performed in Denver, Colorado (45.5%); San Diego, California (13.4%); Los Gatos, California (11.0%); Carlsbad, California (9.0%); Los Angeles, California (6.5%); Scottsdale, Arizona (4.4%); Longmont, Colorado (4.1%); Bothell, Washington (3.3%); and Colorado Springs, Colorado (2.8%). Fiscal 2020 defense wide research, development, test and evaluation funds will be obligated at the time of award. The Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HQ0850-20-C-0008).
Lockheed Martin and York Space are the first contractors selected but more will be picked in later tranches, said Tournear. “We’ll be soliciting every two years,” he said. SDA satellites will be vendor neutral, meaning that they all have to be to talk to each other regardless of who builds them.
German sat lasercom builders @mynaric, @TesatSpacecom on competing teams for Space Development Agency constellation orders w/ @YorkSpaceSystem, @LockheedMartin. @SAPhotonics also on York team. Decade-long @DLR_de effort to penetrate US market may be about to pay off.
SpaceX has won an $149M contract from Uncle Sam to detect and track missile systems, particularly hypersonic missiles. It's for up to 8 satellites. Presumably the satellites will be Starlink-derived. https://beta.sam.gov/opp/107a9e2ef34a455a8894c2dc7be5fad1/view Here's a description of the contract: QuoteThe Space Development Agency (SDA) is responsible for orchestrating the DoD's future threat-driven space architecture and accelerating the development and fielding of new military space capabilities necessary to ensure our technological and military advantage in space for national defense. To achieve this mission, SDA will unify and integrate next-generation space capabilities to deliver the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA), a resilient military sensing and data transport capability via a proliferated space architecture primarily in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).SDA's Tracking Layer will provide global indications, warning and tracking of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems. For Tranche 0 (the "warfighter immersion" tranche), two (2) programs will collaborate in the tracking layer: a Wide Field of View (WFOV) program focusing on technologies necessary to populate a proliferated LEO constellation and a Medium Field of View (MFOV) program focusing on technologies necessary for additional performance. The WFOV satellites are planned to be fielded in late FY22 and the MFOV satellites are planned to be fielded in mid-FY23; both sets of satellites will provide complementary mission data to C2 and operational interfaces. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is for the WFOV program. Please see the attachments for details. source: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/66971f395b1f45c79381e013bbf0c88f/view?keywords=hq085020r0003&sort=-relevance&index=&is_active=true&page=1
The Space Development Agency (SDA) is responsible for orchestrating the DoD's future threat-driven space architecture and accelerating the development and fielding of new military space capabilities necessary to ensure our technological and military advantage in space for national defense. To achieve this mission, SDA will unify and integrate next-generation space capabilities to deliver the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA), a resilient military sensing and data transport capability via a proliferated space architecture primarily in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).SDA's Tracking Layer will provide global indications, warning and tracking of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems. For Tranche 0 (the "warfighter immersion" tranche), two (2) programs will collaborate in the tracking layer: a Wide Field of View (WFOV) program focusing on technologies necessary to populate a proliferated LEO constellation and a Medium Field of View (MFOV) program focusing on technologies necessary for additional performance. The WFOV satellites are planned to be fielded in late FY22 and the MFOV satellites are planned to be fielded in mid-FY23; both sets of satellites will provide complementary mission data to C2 and operational interfaces. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is for the WFOV program. Please see the attachments for details.
Quote SpaceX, L3Harris win Space Development Agency contracts to build missile-warning satellitesby Sandra Erwin — October 5, 2020SDA Director Derek Tournear said SpaceX “came in with an extremely credible proposal” that leverages the Starlink assembly lineWASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency awarded SpaceX a $149 million contract and L3Harris a $193.5 million contract to each build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.https://spacenews.com/spacex-l3harris-win-space-development-agency-contracts-to-build-missile-warning-satellites/Edit to add: due to launch in 2022
SpaceX, L3Harris win Space Development Agency contracts to build missile-warning satellitesby Sandra Erwin — October 5, 2020SDA Director Derek Tournear said SpaceX “came in with an extremely credible proposal” that leverages the Starlink assembly lineWASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency awarded SpaceX a $149 million contract and L3Harris a $193.5 million contract to each build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
The launch RFP was published today. Bids due early next month. Looks like it would probably be around two RTLS flights on a Falcon 9? Not an NSSL contract, so that opens up the bidding possibilities.
Quote from: gongora on 10/07/2020 12:58 amThe launch RFP was published today. Bids due early next month. Looks like it would probably be around two RTLS flights on a Falcon 9? Not an NSSL contract, so that opens up the bidding possibilities.I am very surprised the tracking sats have such large differences in mass, one of the manufacturers has a solution three times lighter than the other.
Quote from: gosnold on 10/10/2020 05:56 pmQuote from: gongora on 10/07/2020 12:58 amThe launch RFP was published today. Bids due early next month. Looks like it would probably be around two RTLS flights on a Falcon 9? Not an NSSL contract, so that opens up the bidding possibilities.I am very surprised the tracking sats have such large differences in mass, one of the manufacturers has a solution three times lighter than the other.I'm waiting for the first round of questions/edits on the documentation. It says all of those sats are ESPA class, and I'm hoping the dimensions for the bigger sat in attachment 4 are actually given in mm instead of cm.https://beta.sam.gov/opp/95a8c11c0a9440e2a1ac8d7e3a9317c5/view
[Space News] Telesat wins DARPA contract to manufacture satellite buses for Blackjack programInteresting. Telesat gets $18.3M to produce two satellites for DARPA using a derivative of the OneWeb bus supplied by Airbus. Each of the satellites will have two optical inter-satellite links that are supplied by two different vendors. Options for up to 18 more satellites.
They released another round of updates on the Tranche 0 Launch RFP. The updates include diagrams with the sizes and stacking methods for the various payloads. The SpaceX sats really are that big, 4.3 x 3 x 1m, 1 ton each, and they stack flat on top of the ESPA ring like giant Starlinks. (I'm trying to figure out if I should interpret that as having a body of 3.6 x 2.4 x 1m with bits sticking off the sides.) It looks like the launches will require 5 meter payload fairings just to fit those SpaceX sats. While only boxes for the payload sizes are shown for three of the satelllite designs, there is a more detailed drawing of the L3Harris tracking sats.
Airbus and Raytheon have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office challenging Space Development Agency contracts awarded to L3Harris and SpaceX. ... Airbus U.S. Space and Defense filed its protest Oct. 28. Raytheon’s protest was filed Nov. 3. The Government Accountability Office has until February 11, 2021 to issue a decision.
Both Airbus and Raytheon on Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, respectively, filed protests with the Government Accountability Office challenging the Space Development Agency’s Oct. 5 contract awards to L3Harris and SpaceX. In order to resolve the protests, the Space Development Agency offered to to re-evaluate contractor bids.After the agency agreed to this corrective action, the Government Accountability Office dismissed both Airbus’ and Raytheon’s protests Nov. 30. But the Space Development Agency has not been able to start the re-evaluation of proposals because Raytheon filed another protest on Nov. 30 challenging the agency’s corrective action. A spokesperson said the SDA could not comment on the nature of the protest.
Quote from: Targeteer on 01/04/2021 09:29 pmLockheed Martin Space, Sunnyvale, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $4,934,360,150 undefinitized modification (P00034) to contract FA8810-18-C-0005 which consists of all work associated with the manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, and delivery of three Next Generation Geosynchronous (NGG) Earth orbiting space vehicles (SV), and delivery of ground mission unique software and ground sensor processing software. Additionally, this modification includes engineering support for launch vehicle integration and launch and early on-orbit checkout for all three NGG SVs. Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, California, and is expected to be completed May 31, 2028. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $99,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8810-18-C-0005).OPIR GEO
Lockheed Martin Space, Sunnyvale, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $4,934,360,150 undefinitized modification (P00034) to contract FA8810-18-C-0005 which consists of all work associated with the manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, and delivery of three Next Generation Geosynchronous (NGG) Earth orbiting space vehicles (SV), and delivery of ground mission unique software and ground sensor processing software. Additionally, this modification includes engineering support for launch vehicle integration and launch and early on-orbit checkout for all three NGG SVs. Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, California, and is expected to be completed May 31, 2028. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $99,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8810-18-C-0005).
SDA statement: “The reevaluation confirmed the original selection decision that the SpaceX and L3Harris Technologies' proposals offered the best value to the government.”
Derek Tournear, Space Dev. Agency, on today's Defense One webinar, says SDA expects most of its constellation of hundreds of sats will be ~250kg, but that cost is more important than size. SpaceX's SDA sats are ~1,000kg, based on expanded Starlink design. L3Harris is ~250kg.
https://twitter.com/CHenry_QA/status/1354494406850736133QuoteDerek Tournear, Space Dev. Agency, on today's Defense One webinar, says SDA expects most of its constellation of hundreds of sats will be ~250kg, but that cost is more important than size. SpaceX's SDA sats are ~1,000kg, based on expanded Starlink design. L3Harris is ~250kg.
Here's the first hardware for the @LockheedMartin SDA Transport Layer, which will include a laser crosslink from @TesatSpaceCom, enabling satellites to share data and achieve interoperability. @Telesat @TyvakNanoSat @innoflight #10Satellitesin2Years
The Space Development Agency expects Tranche 1 satellites to cost "significantly less" than the $14 million average price it paid for Tranche 0 satellites.WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency will solicit bids for an upcoming procurement of up to 150 satellites to be launched in late 2024, agency director Derek Tournear said March 4.A request for proposals will be issued in August and multiple contracts could be awarded before the end of the year, Tournear said at a Potomac Officers Club virtual conference.
https://twitter.com/lmnews/status/1366406631056105477QuoteHere's the first hardware for the @LockheedMartin SDA Transport Layer, which will include a laser crosslink from @TesatSpaceCom, enabling satellites to share data and achieve interoperability. @Telesat @TyvakNanoSat @innoflight #10Satellitesin2Years
The Biden administration’s defense budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 seeks more than $1.2 billion for military space systems in low-Earth orbit. According to budget documents released May 28, nearly $900 million of that investment is for the Space Development Agency’s communications network in low-Earth orbit (LEO) known as the Transport Layer. The Missile Defense Agency is seeking about $300 million for space sensors, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is requesting $42 million to deploy experimental satellites in LEO under the Blackjack program.
Launch services for Space Development Agency satellites will be procured under the National Security Space Launch program run by the U.S. Space Force, according to an agency announcement.
For the Transport Layer Tranche 1, SDA initially planned on allowing the satellite prime contractors to procure the launch services under commercial contracts. On July 26, the agency announced that launch services procurement will be handled by the Space Force’s NSSL program.“SDA now intends to procure launch services through the USSF NSSL Phase 2 contract. Accordingly, it is anticipated that the contractor procured launch services language will be removed from the final RFP [request for proposals],” SDA said.
You'd think they would want to on-ramp the upcoming small-launch firms like Relativity, Firefly, etc.
Among the science payloads on board Cygnus NG-16 is an infrared imaging sensor that will collect data on the low Earth orbit environment. The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency will use the data to develop thermal sensors that can detect hypersonic missiles and other advanced weapons while in flight.
The infrared imaging payload — called PIRPL (short for prototype infrared payload) — is a 110-pound multispectral camera also made by Northrop Grumman under a $13.8 million contract from the Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Missile Defense Agency. This is SDA’s first experiment in support of its Tracking Layer, a planned constellation of small sensor satellites in low Earth orbit. “Upon arrival at the Space Station, PIRPL will begin collecting infrared data and expanding detection capabilities that will aid in the development of algorithms for the next generation of tracking satellites,” Northrop Grumman said Aug. 9 in a news release.PIRPL will gather imagery through the entire NG-16 mission expected to last about three months. After Cygnus leaves the space station, PIRPL will be released from the spacecraft and briefly operate in free flying mode so it can collect more data from different angles before it burns up in the atmosphere, an SDA official said during a call with reporters.
Sensors in space that can detect and track hypersonic missiles should be at the top of DoD’s wish list, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten said Aug. 11.“I would like to have overhead sensors that see everything, characterize everything that goes on on this planet from a missile perspective, all the time, everywhere,” Hyten said in a speech at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium. Hyten, a career space and missile defense officer who grew up in Alabama, has been a regular keynoter at the SMD conference. This was his last appearance as a military leader as he is scheduled to retire in November.
The Space Development Agency (SDA) — which is building a large constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit — last month announced that it will no longer procure launches commercially and will buy launch services through the NSSL program. SDA Director Derek Tournear said initially he did not want to use NSSL because it’s significantly more expensive than commercial launches. The NSSL customers pay for additional administrative cost, mission assurance and other markups. But after extensive negotiations, the Space Force agreed to remove some of those additional markups and gave SDA a better deal, Tournear said Aug. 24.
The Defense Department’s space agency on Aug. 30 released a request for proposals from satellite manufacturers that would compete for contracts to build as many as 144 satellites.The satellites will make up the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 1 — a mesh network of communications satellites in low Earth orbit projected to start launching in late 2024. According to the request for proposals (RFP), the agency intends to buy 126 baseline satellites and 18 additional ones for hosting other payloads. They will be divided into six orbital planes, to be awarded to multiple vendors.Companies are asked to bid for two of the orbital planes, with the associated ground equipment. All satellites have to be interoperable and able to share data via optical inter-satellite links, regardless of who manufactures them. Proposals are due in October and SDA expects to award contracts in January.
SDA plans have called for the Tranche 0 satellites to launch in September next year. The agency is “to mix and match” for the September launch, “depending on who’s ready,” Gattle said.“They’ve told us they’re watching to see who’s going to be ready to be on that first [September] launch,” he said. “There’s going to be a second launch early in 2023 so if you don’t make it on the first one, there’s a second one. It will really depend on the progress of each of the four companies to meet that [first] launch. They would like to have at least one [satellite] from every company so that they can show that each one has made it.”
The Space Development Agency revised a request for proposals that previously had sought bids for 144 satellites. It is now seeking proposals for 126 satellites, and will procure the other 18 at a later time.SDA Director Derek Tournear said Sept. 27 on a DefenseOne virtual event that the change was made after it was determined that the original plan to launch six stacks of 24 satellites would not work due to launch vehicle constraints. Each stack had to be reduced to 21 satellites.
Tournear did not elaborate on the specific launch vehicle constraints. According to industry sources, SDA had to reduce the stack to 21 because SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in its recoverable booster configuration could not accommodate 24 satellites in one launch. SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are the launch service providers under the the national security space launch Phase 2 contract. These sources said the Space Force required the SDA to configure its payloads so they could be launched by either provider.
The Space Development Agency on Oct. 8 issued a draft request for bids for 18 satellites that will carry experimental payloads. These 18 spacecraft will be integrated with SDA’s planned mesh network of 126 optically interconnected data transport satellites. SDA is already reviewing bids for the 126 satellites that will make up the Transport Layer Tranche 1, projected to launch in 2024. The additional 18 satellite are for the Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System, or T1DES.According to the draft request for proposals, “T1DES will augment the Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation with demonstration and experimental capability.”
Maxar Technologies filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office Oct. 8 challenging a Space Development Agency solicitation seeking industry bids for 126 satellites. SDA on Aug. 30 issued a request for proposals for the Transport Layer Tranche 1 — a mesh network of small communications satellites in low Earth orbit projected to start launching in 2024. Proposals were due Oct. 8, the same day Maxar filed the protest. A spokesperson for SDA said in a statement to SpaceNews that the agency is “working with the GAO to achieve fast, accurate and equitable resolution to the protest received on the agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer solicitation. SDA is committed to full and open competition and the agency understands protests are a potential and not uncommon part of that process.”
In response to a protest filed Oct. 8 by Maxar Technologies, the Defense Department’s Space Development Agency is canceling a solicitation issued Aug. 30 seeking bids for 144 satellites and will start over with a new procurement, the agency said Oct. 28....GAO dismissed the protest after SDA agreed to cancel the solicitation and reopen a new one under a different contracting mechanism known as Other Transaction Authority. A new solicitation is being issued Oct. 28, said SDA spokesperson Jennifer Elzea.
Maxar Technologies decided to challenge a Defense Department procurement of 126 satellites because of the financial burden the program imposed on contractors, the company said. Maxar believed that the terms of the Space Development Agency’s satellite buy “unduly burdened industry, favoring larger companies willing and able to take greater financial burden and risk,” a company spokesperson said in a statement Oct. 28 after SDA announced it was canceling the solicitation for the Transport Layer Tranche 1, a mesh network of small communications satellites in low Earth orbit projected to start launching in 2024.The protest was dismissed Oct. 28 by the Government Accountability Office after SDA took down the request for proposals. The agency on the same day reissued the RFP under a different contracting method called Other Transaction Authority (OTA) that gives government buyers more leeway to run programs using commercial practices rather than the standard federal procurement processes.
The Space Development Agency’s plans to launch 20 satellites and procure an additional 126 over the coming year could be derailed if Congress doesn’t pass a budget when temporary funding expires in February, the agency’s director Derek Tournear said Dec. 6.Congress passed a stopgap spending bill, or continuing resolution, on Dec. 3 that funds the U.S. government until Feb. 18. Under a CR, federal agencies can continue to operate but their funding is frozen at the previous year’s levels.The Dec. 3 CR is the second Congress approved since the start of the current fiscal year Oct. 1. As pitched political battles continue on Capitol Hill, DoD worries that Congress will continue to extend temporary funding and not pass a full-year appropriations for the remainder of fiscal year 2022.An extended CR would be especially bad news for SDA because its proposed funding for 2022 is much higher than it was in 2021.
The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency is planning a new procurement of satellites that will be part of a global constellation of missile-tracking space sensors. The agency is looking to buy 28 satellites for the constellation known as Tracking Layer Tranche 1, according to a Dec. 6 draft solicitation.These 28 spacecraft, projected to start launching in late 2024, would expand the Tracking Layer Tranche 0, a batch of eight missile-detecting satellites currently being produced by L3Harris and SpaceX for launch in 2023.
Did SpaceX bid for T1TL?
I'm not sure the SpaceX bus would be the best fit for this contract, and doing a new bus might not be really worth it at those prices?
Quote from: gongora on 03/01/2022 03:18 amI'm not sure the SpaceX bus would be the best fit for this contract, and doing a new bus might not be really worth it at those prices?They already have a new large bus design for their Tracking Layer satellites, which host optical transponders compatible with the Transport Layer.
Quote from: edzieba on 03/01/2022 10:59 pmQuote from: gongora on 03/01/2022 03:18 amI'm not sure the SpaceX bus would be the best fit for this contract, and doing a new bus might not be really worth it at those prices?They already have a new large bus design for their Tracking Layer satellites, which host optical transponders compatible with the Transport Layer.Yes, exactly.
Quote from: gongora on 03/01/2022 11:03 pmQuote from: edzieba on 03/01/2022 10:59 pmQuote from: gongora on 03/01/2022 03:18 amI'm not sure the SpaceX bus would be the best fit for this contract, and doing a new bus might not be really worth it at those prices?They already have a new large bus design for their Tracking Layer satellites, which host optical transponders compatible with the Transport Layer.Yes, exactly.But wouldn't that bus be dependent on Starship though?
Last week, @LockheedMartin received the last piece of hardware for the first of 10 satellites the company will produce and deliver this fall for Tranche 0 of the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer.
Looks like SpaceX is out of the Tracking Layer. Wonder if it was a no-bid or they were just not selected?
There were 7 bidders, so they may just have lost. The satellite bus might not be as expensive as the payload on these sats, and it was commented that the SpaceX bus in Tranche 0 was larger than really necessary for the mission because of their commoditized bus design (everything else in Tranche 0 and probably Tranche 1 can launch from ESPA rings). It's the whole bus/payload/integration package that matters.
I could see a repeat of NSSL Phase 1, with SpaceX bidding a Starship-based option that is not selected due to risk. Or was Tranche 1 structured like Tranche 0 with launch being a separate bid?
the Company reiterates its expectation to deliver all ten buses in 2022 to Lockheed Martin in support of the SDA Transport Layer Tranche 0 and has commenced work on the next forty-two satellites for Tranche 1, which we expect to begin delivering in 2023.
There is a thread to discuss the SDA LEO Constellations, linked in the top post. This isn't it. This thread is to cover the first launch campaign. If you want to start a discussion in the other thread, please put something more useful than "SpaceX is awesome and everyone else sucks."
The agency’s strategy to deploy a large constellation of small satellites for communications and missile-tracking is widely supported on Capitol Hill but lawmakers in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act draft bill raised concerns about the ability of the NSSL program to perform SDA’s rideshare launches on budget and on schedule. Specifically, the House Armed Services Committee suggested that DoD should hire a “common launch integrator” to help manage the integration of SDA’s satellites on NSSL rockets. With a growing number of launches and a demanding schedule set by SDA, the HASC said it’s unclear how the Space Force intends to “drive down cost, reduce risk, and ensure launch reliability and performance.”<snip>The HASC suggested DoD could use the existing U.S. Space Force Launch Manifest Systems Integrator (LMSI) contract to handle the SDA payload integration workload.The current LMSI contractor, Parsons Corp., advocated for the HASC language.
Russian officials have made veiled threats to obliterate SpaceX’s internet satellite network which has served as a communications lifeline for the Ukrainian military.To date, however, “how many Starlink satellites have the Russians shot down? … zero,” noted Derek Tournear, director of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency. Although Russia in November demonstrated it can strike a satellite in low Earth orbit with a ballistic missile, the fact that it hasn’t taken down any Starlink satellites speaks to the power of a proliferated constellation to deter attacks and provide resilience, Tournear said Oct. 25 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event in Arlington, Virginia.
Starlink’s survivability in war a good sign for DoD’s future constellationQuote from: SpaceNewsRussian officials have made veiled threats to obliterate SpaceX’s internet satellite network which has served as a communications lifeline for the Ukrainian military.To date, however, “how many Starlink satellites have the Russians shot down? … zero,” noted Derek Tournear, director of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency. Although Russia in November demonstrated it can strike a satellite in low Earth orbit with a ballistic missile, the fact that it hasn’t taken down any Starlink satellites speaks to the power of a proliferated constellation to deter attacks and provide resilience, Tournear said Oct. 25 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event in Arlington, Virginia.
Quote from: su27k on 10/27/2022 06:57 amStarlink’s survivability in war a good sign for DoD’s future constellationQuote from: SpaceNewsRussian officials have made veiled threats to obliterate SpaceX’s internet satellite network which has served as a communications lifeline for the Ukrainian military.To date, however, “how many Starlink satellites have the Russians shot down? … zero,” noted Derek Tournear, director of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency. Although Russia in November demonstrated it can strike a satellite in low Earth orbit with a ballistic missile, the fact that it hasn’t taken down any Starlink satellites speaks to the power of a proliferated constellation to deter attacks and provide resilience, Tournear said Oct. 25 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event in Arlington, Virginia.SpaceX can replace them quicker than Russia could destroy them with ballistic missiles. The resulting debris would damage everybody's satellites.
Quote from: TrevorMonty on 10/27/2022 09:53 amQuote from: su27k on 10/27/2022 06:57 amStarlink’s survivability in war a good sign for DoD’s future constellationQuote from: SpaceNewsRussian officials have made veiled threats to obliterate SpaceX’s internet satellite network which has served as a communications lifeline for the Ukrainian military.To date, however, “how many Starlink satellites have the Russians shot down? … zero,” noted Derek Tournear, director of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency. Although Russia in November demonstrated it can strike a satellite in low Earth orbit with a ballistic missile, the fact that it hasn’t taken down any Starlink satellites speaks to the power of a proliferated constellation to deter attacks and provide resilience, Tournear said Oct. 25 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event in Arlington, Virginia.SpaceX can replace them quicker than Russia could destroy them with ballistic missiles. The resulting debris would damage everybody's satellites.This is silly talk.The only effective way to shut down Starlink - or any other similar constellation - is to attack the gateway ground stations: there is only about 120 of them and a small Hellfire-class missile would probably disable the whole nine-mushroom Gateway.Fortunately for Ukraine - and I guess unfortunately for Russia - all the Starlink Gateway locations used by Ukraine Starlink users are outside Ukraine and in the territory of NATO countries. A strike on any of them is a direct attack on a NATO country and would provoke an Article 5 response by all NATO countries on Russia. That makes the Starlink Gateways 'off limits' for Russia Edit: spelling
The Space Development Agency wants to include hosted payloads on its future data relay satellites that can provide an alternate to GPS positioning, navigation and timing services, but has yet to determine exactly how — something that officials are hoping industry responses to the agency’s recent request for information, due today, will help clarify.“The goal is to proliferate a complementary PNT service that can augment DOD PNT users, providing enhancements to military GPS users,” Jennifer Elzea, SDA spokesperson, told Breaking Defense, meaning that users “could use both GPS and the SDA signal.”
The Space Development Agency is renaming its planned network of military satellites “Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,” the agency announced Jan. 23.SDA, a former Defense Department agency that is now part of the U.S. Space Force, previously used the name “National Defense Space Architecture” to describe a low Earth orbit constellation of small satellites scheduled to start launching in March.
The Space Development Agency is planning a new procurement of 72 satellites to continue to build out a military constellation in low Earth orbit.In a Jan. 31 draft solicitation, the agency seeks input from vendors interested in bidding for 72 satellites and supporting ground systems that will make up a portion of a planned 216-satellite Tranche 2 Transport Layer. Responses are due March 1.
The U.S. Department of Defense, whose Space Development Agency has already forced a de facto common technical standard on optical satellite transmissions, may be able to accomplish the same feat with interoperability among satellite broadband systems in geostationary and non-geostioantary orbit, the head of Amazon Web Services’s global satcom division said.Paul Mattear also said the DoD’s recent solicitations will also assure that geostationary-orbit satellites, whose relevance is under question in some markets, will remain viable to offer network resilience.
By requiring suppliers of laser terminals to comply with a common set of standards, the U.S. Space Development Agency has helped propel the industry forward, executives said Feb. 8 at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, California. <snip>The agency in 2021 issued a set of technical specifications that optical terminal manufacturers have to comply with in order to compete for SDA contracts. SDA is buying satellites from multiple manufacturers and all their satellites have to be interoperable. SDA’s move to set standards and force suppliers to coalesce around them has been game changing for the industry, said Sven Rettig, chief commercial officer of Tesat Spacecom, a Germany-based manufacturer of optical terminals that is expanding its U.S. operations to support SDA satellite suppliers.
SDA released a request for information (RFI) to gather input for the Tranche 3 (T3) Tracking Layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The RFI provides an opportunity for industry to review and offer feedback in advance of solicitation posting. The T3 Tracking Layer will accelerate the proliferation of missile defense capability to provide low-latency fire control-quality data, while continuing to provide global, persistent indications, detection, warning, tracking, and identification of conventional and advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.SDA plans to purchase and deploy approx. 54 – and potentially more – space vehicles (SV) with infrared (IR) sensors in six orbital planes using one or more vendors. SDA may also acquire additional satellites and sensor payloads under this other transaction authority (OTA) agreement to inform requirements and constellation design. The first orbital plane of the T3 Tracking Layer constellation will be launched no later than April 31, 2029, with the launches of subsequent orbital planes expected to follow on one-month intervals. SDA requires each SV and communications system to be interoperable with the SVs and systems developed by all other PWSA performers. Additionally, all SVs must operate in an integrated fashion through a common ground system.Information gathered through this RFI may inform future solicitations. View the full request for information at the link for additional details and submission instructions. Industry feedback is requested by July 29, 2024 at noon ET.
