After years of lobbying, protests and bidding, Jeff Bezos’s area firm is now a navy launch contractor.
The US Area Pressure introduced Thursday that Blue Origin will compete with United Launch Alliance and SpaceX for at the least 30 navy launch contracts over the subsequent 5 years. These launch contracts have a mixed worth of as much as $5.6 billion.
That is the primary of two main contract selections the Area Pressure will make this yr because the navy seeks to foster extra competitors amongst its roster of launch suppliers, and scale back its reliance on only one or two corporations.
For greater than a decade following its formation from the merger of Boeing and Lockheed Martin rocket applications, ULA was the only real firm licensed to launch the navy’s most crucial satellites. This modified in 2018, when SpaceX began launching nationwide safety satellites for the navy. In 2020, regardless of protests from Blue Origin searching for eligibility, the Pentagon chosen ULA and SpaceX to proceed sharing launch duties.
The Nationwide Safety Area Launch (NSSL) program is accountable for deciding on contractors to ship navy surveillance, navigation, and communications satellites into orbit.
Over the subsequent 5 years, the Area Pressure needs to faucet into new launch capabilities from rising area corporations. This procurement method for this new spherical of contracts, often called NSSL Part 3, is completely different from the way in which the navy beforehand purchased launch companies. As an alternative of grouping all nationwide safety launches into one monolithic contract, the Area Pressure is dividing them into two classifications: Lane 1 and Lane 2.
The Area Pressure’s contract introduced Thursday was for Lane 1, which is for much less demanding missions to low-Earth orbit. These missions embody smaller tech demos, experiments, and launches for the navy’s new constellation of missile monitoring and knowledge relay satellites, an effort that may finally embody a whole lot or hundreds of spacecraft managed by the Pentagon’s Area Improvement Company.
This fall, the Area Pressure will award as much as three contracts for Lane 2, which covers the federal government’s most delicate nationwide safety satellites, which require “advanced safety and integration necessities.” These are sometimes massive, heavy spacecraft weighing many tons and typically needing to go to orbits hundreds of miles from Earth. The Area Pressure would require Lane 2 contractors to undergo a extra in depth certification course of than required in Lane 1.
“At this time marks the start of this progressive, dual-lane method to launch service acquisition, whereby Lane 1 serves our commercial-like missions that may settle for extra threat and Lane 2 gives our conventional, full mission assurance for probably the most stressing heavy-lift launches of our most risk-averse missions,” mentioned Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the Air Pressure for area acquisition and integration.
Assembly the factors
The Area Pressure acquired seven bids for Lane 1, however solely three corporations met the factors to affix the navy’s roster of launch suppliers. The fundamental requirement to win a Lane 1 contract was for a corporation to point out their rocket can place at the least 15,000 kilos of payload mass into low-Earth orbit, both on a single flight or over a collection of flights inside a 90-day interval.
The bidders additionally needed to substantiate their plan to launch the rocket they proposed to make use of for Lane 1 missions by December 15 of this yr. A spokesperson for Area Methods Command mentioned SpaceX proposed utilizing their Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and ULA provided its Vulcan rocket. These launchers are already flying. Blue Origin proposed its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, slated for an inaugural take a look at flight no sooner than September.
“As we anticipated, the pool of awardees is small this yr as a result of many corporations are nonetheless maturing their launch capabilities,” mentioned Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program government officer for the Area Pressure’s assured entry to area division. “Our technique accounted for this by permitting on-ramp alternatives yearly, and we anticipate rising competitors and variety as new suppliers and methods full growth.”
Trevor Mahlmann/Ars Technica
The Area Pressure plans to open up the primary on-ramp alternative for Lane 1 as quickly as the top of this yr. Firms with medium-lift rockets in earlier levels of growth, reminiscent of Rocket Lab, Relativity Area, Firefly Aerospace, and Stoke Area, could have the possibility to affix ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin within the Lane 1 pool at the moment. The construction of the NSSL Part 3 contracts permit the Pentagon to benefit from rising launch capabilities as quickly as they turn out to be out there, in keeping with Calvelli.
In an announcement, Panzenhagen mentioned having extra launch suppliers will enhance the Area Pressure’s “resiliency” in a time of accelerating competitors between the US, Russia, and China in orbit. “Launching extra risk-tolerant satellites on doubtlessly much less mature launch methods utilizing tailor-made unbiased authorities mission assurance might yield substantial operational responsiveness, innovation, and financial savings,” Panzenhagen mentioned.
Extra competitors, theoretically, will even ship decrease launch costs to the Area Pressure. SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets are partially reusable, whereas ULA finally plans to get better and reuse Vulcan essential engines.
Over the subsequent 5 years, Area Methods Command will dole out fixed-price “job orders” to ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin for teams of Lane 1 missions. The primary batch of missions up for awards in Lane 1 embody seven launches for the Area Improvement Company’s missile monitoring mega-constellation, and a job order for the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace, the federal government’s spy satellite tv for pc company. Nonetheless, navy officers require a rocket to have accomplished at the least one profitable orbital launch to win a Lane 1 job order, and Blue Origin’s New Glenn does not but fulfill this requirement.
The Area Pressure pays Blue Origin $5 million for an “preliminary capabilities evaluation” for Lane 1. SpaceX and ULA, the navy’s incumbent launch contractors, will every obtain $1.5 million for related assessments.
ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin are additionally the highest contenders to win Lane 2 contracts later this yr. In an effort to compete in Lane 2, a launch supplier should present it has a plan for its rockets to fulfill the Area Pressure’s stringent certification necessities by October 1, 2026. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are already licensed, and ULA’s Vulcan is on a path to realize this milestone by the top of this yr, pending a profitable second take a look at flight within the subsequent few months. A profitable debut of New Glenn by the top of this yr would put the October 2026 deadline inside the attain of Blue Origin.
