Latest news with #CommercialAugmentationSpaceReserve
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Space Force commercial office eyes pilot for quick-reaction launches
The Space Force is exploring options to use its new Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve to facilitate on-demand launches for getting much needed capabilities on orbit quickly. Col. Richard Kniseley, who leads the service's Commercial Space Office, told reporters in an April 10 briefing at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., his team will work with the Space Force's launch enterprise and its Space Safari office to that end. That office has been coordinating a series of Tactically Responsive Space exercises aimed at sharpening the service's ability to react to real-time, on-orbit needs. The pilot effort will focus on establishing a framework for using the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, or CASR, for responsive launches. Kniseley said Space Safari is particularly interested in CASR's approach to managing supply chain risk and security issues and creating an on-call vendor pool. The goal is to start the pilot by this fall, Kniseley said, noting that the effort would largely be a tabletop exercise rather than an operational demonstration. The Space Force created the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve as a mechanism to leverage commercial capabilities both in peacetime and during a conflict. Officials have compared the program to the Air Force's Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which contracts with commercial airlines to provide additional airlift capacity in emergencies. While the Space Force has its own military-unique requirements, commercial space companies already provide many capabilities the Defense Department relies on, including satellite communications, space domain awareness and launch services. The service in recent years has made a concerted effort to better understand how it can take advantage of those capabilities and integrate them into a range of mission areas. The Space Force awarded its first four CASR contracts in early March. The awards totaled $1.1 million and went to companies who provide space domain awareness services. Kniseley said the service plans to make additional awards for satellite communications and tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking — which includes data and imagery collection and dissemination. Kniseley noted that as the service starts to execute on the initial contracts, it's still fleshing out structural elements of CASR, like the policies around prioritizing government demand and how to offer financial protection for commercial companies who might be targeted by U.S. adversaries. The Space Force is working closely with the Pentagon's policy shop to address these questions and hopes to have results from an ongoing study in the next few months. The Commercial Space Office has also started convening CASR wargame exercises as a way to better understand the nuances of each mission area involved in the program. Kniseley said the team recently held its first commercial satellite communications wargame, bringing together several SATCOM vendors to explore how they would distribute capacity in various wartime and peacetime scenarios and weigh the demands of investors, private sector customers, government users and international allies. 'We have a number of different action items and topics we want to work on and we are now going to get back together with the SATCOM communication in May to have a deep dive to start answering some of those questions,' Kniseley said, noting that there will be a second SATCOM wargame later this year.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lockheed Martin's LM 400 Tech Demo to Prove Out Design and Risk Reduction Efforts on Orbit
Spacecraft ready for launch as early as March 15 VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif., March 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest self-funded technology demonstration from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is ready to launch no earlier than March 15. In the weeks ahead, the LM 400 technology demonstration is planned to launch on a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket, which successfully passed its static fire test today. The technology demonstration arrived in California on March 1, and is now undergoing pre-launch payload processing at Astrotech Space Operations. The satellite was specifically designed to showcase the investment in risk-reduction efforts and pathfinding Lockheed Martin has done for its mid-sized, LM 400 multi-mission satellite bus, and to demonstrate the spacecraft's operational capabilities on orbit for customers. This launch will also be providing a valuable training opportunity for the U.S. Space Force's Space Safari Responsive Space program and the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR) construct. "As the need for greater resiliency and proliferated architectures grow, we've made a critical investment in this LM 400 technology demonstration to design and illustrate timely and relevant capabilities on-orbit for our customers," explained Jeff Schrader, vice president of Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin Space. "We look forward to our ride with Firefly, and ultimately enhancing the technical and manufacturing readiness of the multi-orbit, multi-mission LM 400 platform." As a platform, Lockheed Martin's LM 400 is the company's most flexible satellite bus, capable of carrying out military, commercial or civil customers' missions. It can be customized to host a variety of missions and high-power payloads – including remote sensing, communications, imaging and radar – and operates in any orbit. The LM 400 is already under contract. About Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is a global defense technology company driving innovation and advancing scientific discovery. Our all-domain mission solutions and 21st Century Security® vision accelerate the delivery of transformative technologies to ensure those we serve always stay ahead of ready. More information at Please follow @LMNews on X for the latest announcements and news across the corporation, and check out @LMSpace to learn more about the latest technologies, missions and people driving the future of space. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Lockheed Martin Sign in to access your portfolio
