Latest news with #AssuredAccesstoSpace
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin land $13.7 billion in national security launches
SpaceX took the biggest piece of the pie, but United Launch Alliance and newcomer Blue Origin will divvy up nearly $13.7 billion in national security launches to be assigned over the next five years, the Space Force announced Friday. The National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 2 announcements made by the Space Force's Space Systems Command expect to parse out the lucrative task orders giving Elon Musk's SpaceX more than $5.9 billion, ULA more than $5.3 billion and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin nearly $2.4 billion spread among more than 54 expected missions to be awarded through 2029. The Space Force expects launches to fly about two to three years after being awarded, so the contracts will be for launches through 2032. 'Today's award culminates nearly three years of government and industry partnership to increase launch resiliency and capacity,' explained Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for the Space Force's Assured Access to Space program, a role she holds on top of running Space Launch Delta 45 out of Patrick Space Force Base. 'The result is assured access to space for our national security missions, which increases the military's readiness.' The national security manifest for the next five years of task orders was split into two lanes carving out Lane 2 for the most reliable rockets: SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, ULA's newly certified Vulcan and Blue Origin's New Glenn, which still needs to fly one more mission before being certified. A Lane 1 under the contract has been set aside for 30 missions worth another $5.6 billion to be assigned through 2029 designed to allow for the onboarding of new launch providers in addition to Blue Origin, ULA and SpaceX. The payloads for the Lane 1 missions are considered more risk-tolerant, and would open up an on-ramp for the likes of new launch providers such as Firefly Aerospace, Rocket Lab or Relativity Space. So far, though, only SpaceX has landed any of the Lane 1 missions, getting the first two contracts announced last October worth more than $733.5 million that will require nine launches. The Lane 2 announcement was expected before the end of 2024 as well, with the Space Force normally targeting October at the beginning of each fiscal year to declare which companies won contracts. And despite declaring how the next five-years' worth of launches will be divided, the 2025 task orders have yet to be announced, although they would only be split between SpaceX and ULA, while Blue Origin would be considered among task orders given in 2026. The five-year breakdown calls for 28 missions to be awarded to SpaceX across the five years, or about 52% of the 54 missions, with ULA getting 19, or 35%, and Blue Origin getting seven, or nearly 13%. 'America leads the world in space launch, and through these NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 contracts, we will ensure continued access to this vital domain,' said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration. 'These awards bolster our ability to launch critical defense satellites while strengthening our industrial base and enhancing operational readiness.' The Space Force stated the 2025 task orders will come after Space Systems Command confers with the National Reconnaissance Office. Launches will occur from both the Space Coast and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The breakdown is a flip since the NSSL Phase 2 awards were first announced in 2020, when SpaceX was still the newcomer competing with ULA's stranglehold on national security missions. At the time, the government said it would award ULA 60% of those missions with SpaceX getting 40%. Delays to ULA's Vulcan rocket, though, saw the two companies nearly splitting the missions evenly by the end of the final task orders given out in 2024. ULA had previously landed the majority of Phase 1 awards from last decade as well, and has flown 100 missions for the Department of Defense. 'Vulcan is the right choice for critical national security space missions and is the only rocket today designed to meet all the requirements of our nation's space launch needs,' said Tory Bruno, ULA's president and CEO. Vulcan, which flew twice in 2024, was only certified last month by the Space Force, and still has a backlog of 24 national security missions to fly from Phase 2. The new rocket's delay forced ULA to shift one of the original task orders given in 2020 to one of its few remaining Atlas V rockets, and the government opted to switch one mission to SpaceX. Because of delays in certification, ULA actually pulled back a Vulcan ready to fly the second of those 2020 task orders, the USSF-106 mission, switching it up to allow for a commercial mission to be flown on an Atlas V for Amazon's first operational launch of its Project Kuiper constellation of internet satellites. That rocket is slated to fly as early as Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41. Once the Amazon launch is up, USSF-106 is likely to be the first of several national security missions to fly this year as ULA plays catchup. Blue Origin's New Glenn, meanwhile, expects to fly its second certification flight in late spring. The rocket was recently cleared to fly after the Federal Aviation Administration accepted Blue Origin's investigation into why its attempt to land its first-stage rocket on its debut launch went awry. 'It's an honor and huge responsibility to team with the U.S. government to launch our nation's most important assets,' said Jarrett Jones, Blue Origin's senior vice president for New Glenn. 'Through this partnership, we're looking forward to delivering on a number of critical national security priorities.' New Glenn launched for the first time in January from Canaveral's Launch Complex 36, and Blue Origin became the first commercial company to make it successfully to orbit on its rocket's debut launch despite the attempted booster recovery failure. The heavy-lift rocket also has several missions to fly for Amazon as well as contracts for NASA to fly a pair of astronauts to Mars and missions to get the company's Blue Moon lander on the moon as part of the Artemis program. Musk said SpaceX taking the lead on the new missions may sound generous, but that its competitors would not be able to deliver the remaining task orders in the government's required timeline. 'I hope they succeed, but they aren't there yet,' he posted on X.
Al Bawaba
06-04-2025
- Business
- Al Bawaba
SpaceX secures $5.9B contract with the US government
Published April 6th, 2025 - 05:40 GMT ALBAWABA - Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, the American aerospace company founded by Elon Musk, has secured a contract with the US government valued at approximately $5.9 billion. Also Read SpaceX's Starship explodes during test launch SpaceX and the US government sign contract The renowned American aerospace company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has announced that it has received a multibillion-dollar contract from the US government. Under the new agreement, SpaceX will use its rockets to launch military satellites into space. The total value of the contract is approximately $5.9 billion, according to the United States (US) Space Force. Notably, United Launch Alliance (ULA), the American launch service provider and joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security, also secured a contract valued at approximately $5.4 billion. Meanwhile, Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, received a $2.4 billion contract. As per the new contract with the US government, SpaceX will launch about 28 missions between 2025 and 2029. (Shutterstock) SpaceX scope As per the new contract with the US government, SpaceX will launch about 28 missions between 2025 and Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for Assured Access to Space, stated: 'Today's award culminates nearly three years of government and industry partnership to increase launch resiliency and capacity. The result is assured access to space for our national security missions, which increases the military's readiness.' It is worth noting that SpaceX dominates much of the commercial spaceflight sector in the United States. This aligns with Elon Musk's new role within President Donald Trump's team, where he is tasked with helping to limit the US government's spending, including military expenses. Also Read Musk launches Starlink service in Oman © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Centennial rocket cleared for National Security Space Launch missions
DENVER (KDVR) — A rocket developer in Centennial has been approved by the United States Space Force to partake in National Security Space Launch missions. The United Launch Alliance created its Vulcan rocket after years of development. After two successful certification missions, the rocket has passed its comprehensive certification plan and is now officially certified by Space Force, according to a press release from the alliance. Boulder wins bid to host the Sundance Film Festival starting in 2027 'Thank you to all our customer partners who have worked hand-in-hand with us throughout this comprehensive certification process. We are grateful for the collaboration and excited to reach this critical milestone in Vulcan development,' said Tory Bruno, ULA's president and CEO in the release. 'Vulcan is uniquely designed to meet the challenging requirements demanded by an expanding spectrum of missions for U.S. national security space launches.' In September of 2016, ULA entered into an agreement with the United States Air Force, who made an outline of how the Vulcan would have to perform in the Air Force's New Entrant Certification Guide. From then until now, the Vulcan has undergone and completed 52 certification criteria, including: 180 'discrete tasks' Two certification flight demonstrations 60 payload interface requirement verfications 18 subsystem design and test reviews 114 hardware and software audits 'The SSC and ULA teams have worked together extremely closely, and certification of this launch system is a direct result of their focus, dedication and teamwork,' said Gen Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for Assured Access to Space. The Vulcan possesses the world's highest-performing upper stage, according to the release, which extends ULA's industry-leading legacy of precision. The Centaur V is flexible and durable, allowing it to perform complex orbital insertions. The capabilities of the technology allow large NSSL spacecraft to have direct injection into Geosynchronous Orbit. ULA said it is a critical requirement supporting the country facing evolving threats. The Vulcan rocket is available in four different variations that include the zero, two, four or six solid boosters. The boosters are powered by BE-4 engines, which ULA said are the most powerful liquified natural gas-fueled oxygen-rich staged combustion engine ever flown. 10 high school coaches in Fort Collins terminated after 'violation of district policy' The booster engines can produce 550,000 pounds of thrust. The American-made engines also ended the use of Russia's RD-180 engine. More information about the Vulcan and ULA can be found on its website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ready for 156 Space Coast launches this year, Space Force targets bottlenecks
The Space Force is prepped to support an average of 13 launches of month from the Space Coast in 2025, but it's a juggling act that has the world's No. 1 spaceport running up against infrastructure roadblocks. Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, who leads the Space Force's Assured Access to Space program as well as heads Space Launch Delta 45 based in Brevard County and oversees the Eastern Range, spoke about the challenges at the one-day Space Mobility Conference, part of Space Week at the Orange County Convention Center on Tuesday. 'We've been going up pretty steadily in about a 25-30% increase per year, and I think we'll continue to increase at that rate for at least the next couple years,' she said. The has meant supporting a record 93 launches from either Kennedy Space Center of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in 2024, but the potential to hit as many as 156 from the Space Coast in 2025. The pace has been demanding, she said. 'It's forcing us to innovate, right? We've implemented automation, we relooked at processes and streamlined a lot of things, but it does continue to be a stress on ops tempo when it comes to manpower,' Panzenhagen said. But it also has brought infrastructure shortcomings to the forefront causing backups for national security launches. 'The bottleneck itself is that really we just don't have enough payload processing space,' she said. 'With the launch cadence increasing, we, with our government payloads, are using the same payload processing space that the commercial payloads use.' She noted that was a decision made years ago by the Air Force even before Space Force was created, and one made because it's a commercial service that can be provided, usually the path the military will take to reduce costs. She also noted bigger rockets with multiple payloads may cause logistics delays. 'Oftentimes those payloads have to be processed differently — different clean room standards, different security standards. So that's taking up a tremendous amount of space,' she said. In 2024, the Space Force was able to get extra congressional funds to pursue commercial solutions to a similar bottleneck on the Western Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That solution could mean more square footage or new ways to process satellites. She said a similar request for the Space Coast will be made for 2025. 'So as far as funding goes, when we go to the (Capitol) Hill, we do have a lot of conversations with the members and the staffers,' she said. 'We have gotten a good acknowledgement that they understand the need for it. So we're cautiously optimistic that we'll get some funding in '25.' Another big hurdle to support launches, she said, is real estate. 'We're fortunate because we are operating in a time where we do have that demand,' she said. 'The commercial launch industry is extremely healthy, innovative, growing, but because of that, we don't have enough real estate to give everybody that wants a pad for a different rocket a pad.' Already SpaceX operates at both KSC and Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 while United Launch Alliance uses SLC 41 and Blue Origin just had its first launch from Launch Complex 36. Smaller rocket companies Relativity Space and Astra Space have flown in recent years from other Canaveral pads while approvals for several others including Stoke Space and Firefly Aerospace have been granted as well. Meanwhile, SpaceX is looking to build up a new Starship launch pad at the former ULA Delta IV Heavy launch site at Space Launch Complex 37. 'We do have to be very strategic in those decisions because it is a limited resource,' she said. And while the Space Force's primary mission is to support national security, it's married to the need to keep commercial launch providers healthy and happy. 'The very first priority is making sure that we are able to meet the current national security needs that we're posturing to meet the future national security needs because, you know, we're wearing this uniform and that's our job,' she said. 'But that has to be closely coupled with the second question we always ask ourselves: are we promoting a robust and healthy and innovative, competitive commercial industry for launch.'
