Derek Turner, director of SDA, said SpaceX “came up with a very reliable proposal” that would benefit the Starlink assembly line.
WASHINGTON – The Space Development Agency has awarded SpaceX a .5 193.5 million contract to build four satellites for each of its construction to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
5 Oct Qt. The announced agreements are likely the first eight satellites in the constellation of large space development agency sensor satellites known as the Tracking Layer Trench 0. This is SpaceX’s first military agreement to produce satellites.
The two companies are set to deliver four satellites each by September 2022, said Derek Turner, director of the Space Development Agency. SpaceNews.
Each satellite will have a “wide field view” overhead continuous infrared (OPIR) sensor capable of detecting and tracking advanced missile threats from low Earth orbit. Each satellite will also have optical crosslinks so that it can pass data to relay satellites.
The winners were selected on the basis of technical quality and ability to deliver satellites quickly, Turnier said.
SpaceX has proposed a new satellite design based on the StarLink bus designed by SpaceX for its Internet megacanthelation. Turnier said SpaceX was acquiring an OPIR sensor from another supplier but could not reveal its name. SpaceX has not yet announced its subcontractors for the program.
The L3 Harris bid for a full satellite with a home-made bus and payload.
The tracking layer must be consistent with the optical crosslinks, the optical links used in the transport layer satellites that Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems are creating for the Space Development Agency.
The transport layer is the backbone that moves the information collected by sensors to anywhere in the world where U.S. The army needs it.
Turnier said SpaceX has “come up with an extremely reliable proposal” that leverages its Starlink assembly line.
“The choice is on technical merits but the schedule will take top priority,” he said. “The SDA model is based on leveraging Dell commercial technology. We have taken advantage of commercial Tier 2 suppliers. This is an example of how we can benefit commercial Tier 1 suppliers. “
“We want to show that we can take commodified commercial components and do DOD missions,” Turnier said.
All eight satellites will be launched in 2022 to demonstrate the tracking layer. The next step is to add 28 more broad-spectrum field satellites and one or two “medium-field” satellites to be developed by the Missile Defense Agency. Medium Field – The F-View sensor provides more specific target location data to automatically cue weapons.
28 wide field-view f-view constellations and two medium field-f-view OPIR satellites will be deployed in two aircraft of each of the 15 satellites.
Turnier said the SDA is now reviewing bids for the “Mission Systems Engineering and Integration” agreement. The winner will be responsible for binding the transport layer and the tracking layer to the ground systems.
