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Redwire is awarded a contract to manufacture Link-16 antennas for a national security LEO constellation

Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) has been contracted to deliver 42 high gain antennas for an undisclosed national security customer for an LEO satellite constellation with significant follow-on potential.

Scheduled to be delivered within the next 18 months, the antennas will enable beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) communications for the warfighter using a secured tactical network. Earlier this year, Redwire successfully delivered antennas for the initial phase of this constellation.

This production lot will be manufactured in Redwire’s recently expanded Longmont, Colorado, facility, which uses modular array work cells that enable a factory capacity well in excess of 120 antennas.

The award builds on years of development of advanced antenna systems for industry and military customers. Redwire’s antenna technology was selected for the original pathfinder mission to demonstrate this waveform from space.

Redwire’s antenna technology delivers unmatched gain performance over an ultra-wide bandwidth and also interfaces to radios that support wideband, frequency-hopping, tactical networking.  The antenna technology was demonstrated in part under an Air Force Commercialization Readiness Program.

“Redwire is proud to continue to develop critical, enabling antenna technology for our national security customer,” said Dean Bellamy, Redwire’s Executive Vice President of National Security. “This antenna product line encompasses years of research and development of advanced antenna systems alongside industry and military customers. Redwire has already begun investing in the development of future mission critical antenna technologies for future phases of this constellation, as well as other Department of Defense and Intelligence Community missions.”

Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) is a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, with valuable IP for solar power generation and in-space 3D printing and manufacturing. With decades of flight heritage combined with the agile and innovative culture of a commercial space platform, Redwire is uniquely positioned to assist its customers in solving the complex challenges of future space missions. For more information, please visit www.redwirespace.com.   

Partnering for cloud-based space mission sim software are Isar Aerospace + EXOTRAIL

Exotrail’s ExoOPS™ — Mission Design screen shot.

The launch service provider Isar Aerospace has signed in as the latest ExoOPS™ — Mission Design customer — Exotrail’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution is dedicated to space mission simulation and analysis.

Isar Aerospace will use ExoOPS™ — Mission Design to answer the demand for flexible, sustainable, and cost-effective access to space. The ExoOPS™ – Mission Design will support the mission management team in running a quick and easy preliminary mission design to answer the growing demand for constellation deployment onboard Spectrum, Isar Aerospace’s launch vehicle with a payload capacity of up to 1,000 kg.

Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum launch vehicle.

With ExoOPS™ — Mission Design, the Isar Aerospace team will benefit from:

  • Powerful simulations with Exotrail’s flight dynamic core inside
  • User-friendly and easy-to-use graphical user interfaces allowing a quick onboarding
  • Collaborative and cross-functional capabilities for result sharing
  • Tailored build and run deployment solution

Alexandre Dalloneau, Vice President – Mission and Launch Operations of Isar Aerospace, said, “We see increasing customer demand for launching satellite constellations, as they become a critical base for connectivity and communications and enable many technologies on earth. It is great to partner with Exotrail on enhancing our capabilities in the planning and analysis of satellite constellations. Using the software will support us in performing fast and reliable mission design and suitable launch service for our customers.”

Sébastien Duménil, Exotrail’s Chief Commercial Officer, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Isar Aerospace, a leading European launch service provider as a new ExoOPS™ – Mission Design user. Extending our software customer base to launch services providers, alongside satellite operators, manufacturers, and space agencies confirm ExoOPS™ – Mission Design as the perfect tool for all the actors across the value chain. We are dedicated to keeping our solution close to our customers’ needs for space mission simulation, with regular releases covering more use cases of propelled satellite constellations to be deployed and operated into all orbits”.

Isar Aerospace, based in Ottobrunn/Munich, develops and builds launch vehicles for transporting small and medium-sized satellites as well as satellite constellations into Earth’s orbit. The company was founded in 2018 as a spin-off of the Technical University Munich. Since then, it has grown to more than 250 employees from more than 40 nations with many years of hands-on rocket know-how as well as experience within other high-tech industries. The company is privately financed by former SpaceX VP Bulent Altan as well as leading investors including Airbus Ventures, Apeiron, Earlybird, HV Capital, Lakestar, Lombard Odier, Porsche SE, UVC Partners, and Vsquared Ventures.

Exotrail is an end-to-end space mobility operator. The company designs, develops and sells mobility solutions for agile space. Our mission is to allow satellites to move in space so that we can optimize their deployment, increase their service performances and reduce space pollution. Exotrail’s product portfolio allows customers to define accurately their mobility needs with the company’s collaborative, intuitive mission and system design software ExoOPS™ – Mission Design — to solve this mobility need with our high-thrust, flexible propulsion systems ExoMG™ and our in-space transportation and logistics services with our SpaceVan™ vehicle — to operate the solution with our “flight dynamics-inside” constellation operation automation software ExoOPS™ – Operations. Exotrail has been incorporated in 2017 and has secured over 20 million euros since then from prestigious Venture Capital funds and public grants. We have customers all across the globe on all our product lines – US, Europe and Asia. Our team is expanding quickly and consists, as of today, of +60 people who are passionate about disrupting the space industry. We operate out of two locations: Toulouse and Massy (suburb of Paris).

Gilat receives million$ with a follow-on order for LEO constellation gateways support

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILT, TASE: GILT) has received a more than $8 million dollar follow-on order for support of gateways of a LEO constellation.

Gilat’s subsidiary, Wavestream, was selected as the sole provider to supply Gateway Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) to a leading satellite operator to support the LEO constellation gateways. The order is above and beyond last year’s previously announced $50 million contract, which is currently being delivered.

“Repeat business like this is a testament to our reliable manufacturing ability to meet the stringent requirements of non-geostationary satellite orbit constellations,” said Bob Huffman, General Manager at Wavestream and Senior Vice President at Gilat. “Our manufacturing capacity, product reliability and experience with high-power, Ka-band, SSPA technologies position us well to capture a significant share of the NGSO gateway market.”

Wavestream, a Gilat subsidiary is the industry leader in the design and manufacture of next generation satellite communications high power transceivers for In Flight Connectivity, Ground Mobility and Gateway markets. Since 2001, we provide system integrators with field-proven, high performance Ka, Ku and X band Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs), Block Upconverters (BUCs), Block Down Converters and Transceivers. We design, manufacture and repair our products in-house and have delivered over 40,000 systems in the past 15 years. Wavestream products provide high quality and reliability under the harshest environmental conditions and we are currently certified to ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100D standards.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT, TASE: GILT) is a leading global provider of satellite-based broadband communications. With 30 years of experience, we design and manufacture cutting-edge ground segment equipment, and provide comprehensive solutions and end-to-end services, powered by our innovative technology. Delivering high value competitive solutions, our portfolio comprises of a cloud based VSAT network platform, high-speed modems, high performance on-the-move antennas and high efficiency, high power Solid State Amplifiers (SSPA) and Block Upconverters (BUC). Gilat’s comprehensive solutions support multiple applications with a full portfolio of products to address key applications including broadband access, cellular backhaul, enterprise, in-flight connectivity, maritime, trains, defense and public safety, all while meeting the most stringent service level requirements. Gilat controlling shareholders are the FIMI Private Equity Funds.

Airbus awarded million€€€ Syracuse IV ground segment contract

Within the Syracuse IV program, Airbus has been awarded a 10-year framework agreement called Copernic for the construction and upgrading of part of the ground segment for the telecommunications satellites used by the French Armed Forces.

As part of Copernic, the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has placed an initial order worth more than 100 million euros.

This first order specifically covers the development of the future satellite communications management system for the French Ministry of Defence. This unique portal called Pegasus, accessible to all units, will enable the French Armed Forces to optimize use of the available capacities on military and commercial satellites. It will make it possible to coordinate requests entered by central military staff or any unit deployed on the ground, at sea or in the air.

Allocation of satellite capacities will be optimized in terms of operational criteria completed by the units, such as the type of terminals used, ground cover, level of cyber security, jamming resistance, as well as the need for availability.

The Copernic project also aims to increase the operability of Comcept, the multi-satellite communications network designed by Airbus and commissioned by the French armed forces in 2017. Comcept uses the broadband Ka-band transmission capacities of the Franco-Italian military satellite ATHENA-FINDUS, in addition to the Ku- and C-band capacities of commercial satellites. Thanks to these developments, Comcept will also be able to use the high-speed Ka-band of future satellites SYRACUSE 4A and 4B.

Artistic rendition of the ATHENA-FINDUS satellite, courtesy of Thales Alenia Space.

Different elements of the SYRACUSE IV program’s future ground segment and the Pegasus portal will enable the French armed forces to use the entire spectrum of satellite capacities efficiently and dynamically, from the most secure and resilient to the high-speed and wide coverage capacities, in all areas of operations.

Dominique Maudet, Head of French Defence Sales at Airbus Defence and Space, said, “We are building the future broadband and multi-satellite ground segment for France’s Armed Forces. It will be fully integrated, intelligent and dynamic, giving operators access to a decision-making tool unique to satellite communications management.”

NexGen SDA services will be the result of SCOUT + LEOcloud collaborations

SCOUT Inc. and LEOcloud Inc. have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to work jointly to enhance space operations safety.

The collaboration is focused on integrating SCOUT’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) product with LEOcloud’s Space Edge IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) offering — this agreement involves an early demonstration of SCOUT’s solutions operating on LEOcloud’s IaaS.

“This partnership with LEOcloud is mutually beneficial. SCOUT’s on-orbit sensing and analytics capabilities for in-space events and objects provide at-scale, unparalleled transparency on space operations, and widespread spaceflight safety enhancements. Joining forces with LEOcloud’s IaaS and their signature Space Edge hybrid cloud services to enable the lowest latency for AI and predictive analytics deployed in orbit, driving competitive and operational advantage for commercial, government, and military organizations,” said Eric Ingram, Co-founder, and CEO of SCOUT. “We look forward to providing cutting edge SDA solutions and services to select customers as a result of this partnership.”

“LEOcloud’s Space Edge mission and strategy is to bring hybrid cloud edge computing services to LEO and beyond. End users can then operate their R&D, business, or mission-critical services or applications in a seamless hybrid cloud environment, and realize the lowest latency possible for conversion of data from raw to deep actionable insights. The combination of LEOcloud’s IaaS with space-based sensing services provided by SCOUT presents a compelling value proposition,” said Dennis Gatens, Founder & CEO of LEOcloud.

SCOUT was founded in 2019 with the mission to enable a new era of space safety and transparency. SCOUT’s in-space products and services, first launched in June 2021, allow spacecraft to see and understand things around them. The orbital distributed sensor network developed by SCOUT will significantly improve Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and ensure responsible use of the space environment. The company is a Techstars, MassChallenge, and venture-backed startup with ongoing government contracts and commercial paid pilots. For more information, visit www.scout.space.

Founded in 2021, LEOcloud believes the intersection of cloud and space will bring great benefits to commercial and government organizations. Our mission is to offer a space-based multi-cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) that will enable cloud service providers to extend their cloud services in LEO and beyond.

GHGSat adds 3 more satellites to their methane emissions monitoring constellation with ADD optical sensors aboard

GHGSat launched three, new, ABB-built optical sensors into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard the Transporter-5 mission late last month, doubling the capacity to monitor methane gas emissions.

With ABB’s technology, the GHGSat team is able to precisely locate and measure methane emissions from any given industrial site on earth. The launch of three, new, ABB-built, high-resolution methane sensors doubles the company’s capacity to monitor customer sites. In addition to the three units being launched – Luca, Penny and Diako – six additional units are under fabrication at ABB.

Space is the only location allowing emissions to be monitored freely across jurisdictions and report on improvements or otherwise. Measuring different sites with the same sensor ensures that emissions are compared consistently. Space measurements are also especially useful for sites where ground sensors are economically not viable or too complex to deploy.

GHGSat announced the initial constellation contract with ABB in October of 2020, with first deliveries starting in 2021. The launch of three additional units strengthens GHGSat’s lead on-orbit, operating the world’s largest constellation in the world dedicated to GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emission monitoring.

According to the International Energy Agency, methane is responsible for around 30 percent of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, and rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions are key to limiting near-term global warming and improving air quality[1].

For more than two decades, with involvement in the Canadian SCISAT mission and the Japanese GOSAT satellites program, ABB has stood at the forefront of greenhouse gas sensing from space. ABB optical equipment already in space has accumulated more than 100 years of reliable operation. Since 2003, the SCISAT sensor tracks long-term subtle composition changes in the Earth’s atmosphere down to parts per trillion of more than 70 molecules and pollutants. Weather agencies across the world base their predictions on ABB equipment flying onboard the NOAA‘s weather satellites (NPP and JPSS), which improves the timeliness and accuracy of weather forecasts for up to seven days, helping save lives through advanced warning evacuations.

“Satellite data is critical for stakeholders globally to take immediate action for a sustainable future. The first full year of commercial operation for GHGSat satellites confirmed the impact our technology can have. We’re excited to double our capacity and accelerate the change needed to make a difference for our planet,” said Stephane Germain, CEO of GHGSat.

“This is an exciting milestone for our team as we witness the efficiency of applying our serial production know-how to space sensors manufacturing which in the past have been mainly one-off contracts. Our partnership with GHGSat led to a paradigm shift in the industrial space sector. Not only does this set new standards in our space offering for the private sector which is growing at a rapid pace, but it also allows us to expand our expertise and solutions offering,” said Marc Corriveau, General Manager ABB Measurement & Analytics Canada.

ABB is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries.

GHGSat is a leader in high-resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space, providing actionable emission data to businesses, governments, and regulators worldwide. With proprietary remote-sensing capabilities and patented technology, GHGSat can monitor individual facilities, offering greater data accuracy, and facilitating timely strategic decision-making insights.

CORRECTION: Blue Origin launches their 5th human spaceflight mission

The launch of Blue Origin’s NS-21 manned crew flight.

On Saturday, June 4th, Blue Origin successfully completed their fifth human spaceflight and the 21st flight for the New Shepard program.

The astronaut crew included: Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo.

The crew of New Shepard NS-21. Pictured from left to right: Victor Vescovo, Victor Correa Hespanha, Katya Echazarreta, Jaison Robinson, Hamish Harding, and Evan Dick.

“It was an honor to fly this special crew of explorers and true pioneers today,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President, New Shepard. “Thank you to the entire New Shepard team for your tireless work and dedication to this program. Each mission is an opportunity to provide another six people the life-changing experience of witnessing the beauty and fragility of our planet from space. It’s one step in realizing our vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth.”

Sidus Space selects L3Harris for mission critical ops software for the LizzieSat™ constellation

Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU), a Space-as-a-Service satellite company that is focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection, has selected L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) InControl™ and OnTime™ software for command and control (C&C) and mission planning for the company’s LizzieSat™ (LS) constellation.

InControl will provide satellite command and control software for on-orbit, factory test and ground system monitor and control. InControl supports the full range of command and control system requirements, including telemetry processing, data display and analysis, constellation monitoring and control, onboard system management and ground equipment monitoring and control. It is designed to support a fleet of satellites, treating each satellite and ground station as its own mission.

OnTime is modular space mission planning software framework designed to plan, simulate and track mission success from inception to execution with user-specified levels of detail and plug and play capability with external tools. It is designed to aid mission planners by coordinating daily activities through a single user interface.

L3Harris will work with the Sidus team on full implementation of the two products at Sidus Space’s Cape Canaveral facility in the coming weeks in preparation for the LizzieSAT-1 International Space Station (ISS) Space Station Integrated Kinetic Launcher for Orbital Payload Systems (SSIKLOPS) deployed mission planned for Q4 2022.

LS are partially 3D manufactured LEO, multi-mission smallsats that are focused on rapid, cost-effective development and testing of upcoming innovative spacecraft technologies for multiple customers. LS is a 100 kg. (220-pound) satellite with space to rapidly integrate customer sensors and technologies.

“During our selection process we evaluated and received demonstrations of several existing and in development platforms,” John Curry, Chief Mission Operations Officer said. “The team determined that InControl provides the best solution for our Ground Operations, Training, Assembly, Integration & Test currently, while OnTime provides robust support for our mission planning, and both will scale easily as we deploy and manage our 100+ satellite constellation,” he said. “With our Space as a Service business model we must offer our diverse customer portfolio cost-effective, individualized operation of each satellite. With InControl’s ability to support each satellite and ground station as its own mission, we will be able to deliver on that commitment,” Curry noted. “The flexibility and scalability paired with the robust capabilities allow greater autonomy and allow for us to customize operations, expanding, when necessary, with less hardware and less complexity than other solutions which significantly reduces our overall operational cost.”

Sidus Space (NASDAQ: SIDU), located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, operates from a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing facility focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection. The company’s rich heritage includes the design and manufacture of many flight and ground component parts and systems for various space-related customers and programs. Sidus Space has a broad range of Space-As-a-Service offerings including space-rated hardware manufacturing, design engineering, satellite manufacturing and platform development, launch and support services, data analytics services and satellite constellation management. Sidus Space has a mission of Bringing Space Down to Earth™ and a vision of enabling space flight heritage status for new technologies while delivering data and predictive analytics to domestic and global customers. Any corporation, industry, or vertical can start their journey off-planet with Sidus Space’s rapidly scalable, low-cost satellite services, space-based solutions, and testing alternatives. More than just a “Satellite-as-a-Service” provider, Sidus Space is a trusted Mission Partner–from concept to Low Earth Orbit and beyond. Sidus is ISO 9001:2015, AS9100 Rev. D certified, and ITAR registered.

Open Cosmos signs contract with ESA to develop the smallsat NanoMagSat constellation concept

Artistic rendition of the Open Cosmos NanoMagSat constellation on-orbit. Image is courtesy of the company.

Open Cosmos has announced their latest contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the NanoMagSat mission concept.

The NanoMagSat mission concept consist of a smallsat constellation to monitor the Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment with an innovative revisiting time strategy and combination of instruments (one self-calibrated absolute scalar/vector magnetometer combined with star trackers on an optical bench, one high frequency vector magnetometer, a multi-needle Langmuir probe and two, dual frequency, GNSS receivers for recovery of Total Electron Content and ionospheric radio-occultation data).

The mission concept is proposed by a consortium from European entities. Open Cosmos, is responsible for the satellite and mission concept aspects. The French technology research institute CEA-Leti is focused on overseeing the payload and developing the magnetometers; University of Oslo is providing the Langmuir probes; and Spanish engineering companies Comet Ingenieria and Prosix Engineering are providing the deployable boom and optical bench. The Université Paris Cité’s IPGP, is the scientific lead of the mission.

NanoMagSat was selected as an ESA Scout candidate for an initial feasibility consolidation phase in 2020. The aim of this new activity is to de-risk all critical technical elements with the aim to propose NanoMagSat as a mission candidate in potential future calls of SCOUTs. These critical elements include a deployable boom, electronic components of the magnetometers and Langmuir probes, as well as the development of a satellite with a low electromagnetic signature. All these are key to ensuring that the payload matches the requirements to detect the targeted signals and meet the mission’s goals.

The activity will develop new technologies for expanding the roles smallsats can play in such missions: For instance, the boom needs state-of-the-art mechanical engineering to provide long arm deployment, compact packing, and very specific materials to maximise magnetic cleanliness. Similarly, all elements of the small satellite platform also need to be optimised for this.

Once these elements are de-risked, this will help Open Cosmos and the consortium to propose a mission concept aiming to cost less than €30 million and to be developed within three years, a fraction of the cost that such important complementary scientific missions have been in the past.

The current ESA Swarm satellites have been monitoring Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment since 2013. They have helped researchers make a large number of scientific discoveries in regards to the dynamics driving their evolution, solar storms, the way the magnetic field organises the magnetosphere and ionosphere, the geology of what’s beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets, and even the migratory patterns of animals.

The consortium proposes a novel approach using a new constellation concept and low-cost small satellites to increase the temporal resolution at which the various components of Earth’s magnetic field can be recovered, as well as using a well-chosen payload to initiate new ways of sounding the ionospheric environment.

The innovative orbital strategy of combining a satellite in polar orbit together with two orbits inclined at 60° would provide an improved temporal revisit (the time it takes to return to and acquire data from the same location at the same time) of a little more than one month for latitudes within 60°N/S. It is also designed to work in conjunction with Swarm, should Swarm still be in operation at the time of launch. The approach is fully scalable with additional satellites that could be added to further increase this performance.

The Earth’s magnetic field protects our planet from damaging incoming energetic charged particles such as those coming from the Sun. The Earth’s magnetic field also organizes the way the near outer space (the magnetosphere) and the ionized upper layers of the atmosphere (the ionosphere) respond to solar activity.

This response can produce strong magnetic signals that can affect ground technology such as power transmission networks or, potentially, internet networks. It can also create radiation hazards affecting satellites in near outer space, and multiple ionospheric perturbations that can severely perturb radio transmissions, radars and GNSS systems – a group of hazards collectively known as space weather hazards.

Monitoring Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment is key for investigating these phenomena, understanding their evolution and unraveling the underlying mechanisms, so we can better prepare for them in the future. It is also essential to aid accurate navigation, reveal properties of the shallow and deep Earth, and provide key information for geophysical surveying of minerals.

Florian Deconinck, Vice President of Institutional Partnerships & Future Missions at Open Cosmos, said, “This contract is a landmark for Open Cosmos and for the NanoMagSat mission concept. It is a concrete step towards making this mission concept feasible which if implemented would complement and expand on the results from renown missions like Oersted, CHAMP or Swarm. More generally it illustrates how ESA, the industry and academia can work together to show the potential of future micro-satellite constellation missions to significantly contribute towards big scientific challenges.”

Gauthier Hulot, PI of the project, Deputy Director for Science and Space at IPGP, Université Paris Cité, said, “It is crucial that monitoring of Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric environment currently achieved by the ESA Swarm mission is maintained and improved beyond this very successful mission. This contract is a major step towards ensuring NanoMagSat can be launched soon enough to achieve this and demonstrate the possibility of permanently maintaining such observations with the help of low-cost scalable small satellite constellations.”

Open Cosmos designs, manufactures and operates satellites to solve the world’s biggest challenges. Open Cosmos is the perfect partner for those who want to monitor changes on Earth at a global scale, those who want to provide telecommunications services based on satellite constellations and those who want to test innovative space technologies in orbit. For more information visit www.open-cosmos.com, our Twitter and LinkedIn.

Launch Task Orders From Space Systems Command Go To United Launch Alliance + SpaceX

Space Systems Command (SSC) ordered eight National Security Space (NSS) launch services under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement contract today; five to United Launch Alliance (ULA) for GPS III-7, USSF-23, USSF-43, WGS-11+, and USSF-16 using the Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle, and three to Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) for USSF-124, USSF-62, and one SDA-Tranche 1 mission using the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

The distribution of missions between ULA and SpaceX is determined by the competitively awarded Phase 2 Contract launch service distribution requirements, which approximates a 60/40 split. These missions are planned to launch over the next two years and focus on a multitude of mission areas.

USSF-124 is a mission being conducted with SSC partners at Missile Defense Agency. It will be launched onboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the eastern range into LEO. The USSF-62 mission, to be launched onboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the western range into a polar orbit, includes the first Weather System Follow-on (WSF) satellite. The GPS III-7 mission is the seventh of ten projected GPS III missions, planned for launch onboard a Vulcan Centaur rocket from the eastern range into MEO.

USSF-16, USSF-23 and USSF-43 are classified missions to be launched onboard Vulcan Centaurs from the eastern range. The Wideband Global SatCom (WGS-11) mission is the last mission in the series and will be launched onboard a Vulcan Centaur from the eastern range into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The SDA mission is the first of six missions launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer. It will be launched onboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the western range into a polar orbit.

“This action represents the crucial role the Space Force plays in putting vital space capability successfully into orbit to meet the emerging threat,” said Brig. Gen. Stephen Purdy, SSC Program Executive Officer, Assured Access to Space. “Now, more than ever, we must do everything in our power to ensure each National Security Space launch is successful; it’s the best way to stay ahead of our adversaries in the near term. We launch the nation’s “eyes and ears,” secure communications, GPS, and Space Awareness that provide our warfighters and national decision-makers with the vital information they need to protect our nation and allies.”

“We work closely with our launch service providers and mission partners to ensure launch capability exists to get our critical payloads to orbit on-time and without failure,” said Col. Chad Melone, Chief Launch Procurement and Integration Division, SSC. “ULA and SpaceX have highly capable launch systems and we have full confidence that they will meet our needs for the eight missions we ordered today.”

Space Systems Command (SSC) is the U.S. Space Force field command responsible for rapidly developing, acquiring, equipping, fielding and sustaining lethal and resilient space capabilities. SSC mission capability areas include launch acquisition and operations, communications and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), space sensing, battle management command, control and communications (BMC3), and space domain awareness & combat power. SSC is headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, Calif.