SpaceX | The Contracting Education Academy

April 24, 2018 By AMK

Military will award $10 million to the company that can launch satellites on short notice

U.S. military leaders are bullish about small satellites as tools to spy on adversaries and provide secure communications, but there’s just one problem: There isn’t a good way to get them into space, on demand.

Inspired by NASA’s partnerships with rocket makers like SpaceX, the Pentagon is turning to private industry, as half a dozen companies, most backed by venture capitalists, are working to launch small satellites more cheaply than ever to meet the demands of a growing number of small-satellite startups.

“There’s already a lot of commercial money going into development for these boosters,” Todd Master, a program manager at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency told Quartz at the Space Symposium, a conference bringing together space companies and government officials in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “But nobody is asking them to be much more responsive. Our discussions with them are: Could you go faster? Could you go from anywhere? And they’re like, ‘Yeah, but nobody is asking us to do that.’”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/04/us-military-will-award-10-million-company-can-launch-satellites-short-notice/147588

March 27, 2018 By AMK

Air Force divides new launch contracts between SpaceX, ULA

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have split up to $645 million in new contracts to deploy U.S. Air Force navigation and surveillance satellites into orbit from 2019 through 2021.

A Falcon 9 rocket built and operated by SpaceX will launch the Air Force’s fourth new-generation GPS 3-series navigation satellite in late 2019. The Air Force and SpaceX also secured options for two additional GPS satellite launches in 2020 and 2021, raising the total potential value of the contract to nearly $290.6 million.

Two United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets will loft the Air Force’s AFSPC-12 and AFSPC-8 missions, both destined for deployment in circular geosynchronous orbits more than 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the equator. The AFSPC-8 and AFSPC-12 missions are scheduled for launch in 2020.

The contracts for the two Atlas 5 launches are valued at $354.8 million. A ULA spokesperson said the company is not currently releasing which Atlas 5 configurations — the size of the payload fairing and number of solid rocket boosters — will launch the two missions.

Keep reading this article at: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/03/20/u-s-air-force-divides-new-launch-contracts-between-spacex-ula/

February 28, 2018 By AMK

Successful SpaceX launch clears way for historic Georgia Tech spacecraft

They clapped when it cleared the launch pad. They oohed in awe as the booster rockets separated, then roared when the pair landed in synchronicity.

A livestream of the Falcon Heavy launch is projected on a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling screen in Georgia Tech’s Engineering, Science and Mechanics Building on February 6, 2018. (Click photo to see video.)

And they howled with laughter when they saw a car in space.

“It was awesome! It was unbelievable to see something so historic,” said Swapnil Pujari.

He was one of 30 or so Georgia Tech aerospace engineering students who crowded into a lab in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Building Tuesday afternoon to watch a livestream of SpaceX’s first test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket — the Falcon Heavy.

From the sound in the room, the launch was an unquestionable success.

“I got goosebumps when I saw the two boosters land at the same time,” said William Jun, a fourth-year undergraduate in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “I feel like I’ve witnessed the beginning of a new era.”

It’s hard to imagine what he’ll feel the next time the Falcon Heavy launches.

Tuesday’s launch only carried one piece of cargo, a red Tesla Roadster that is expected to orbit the sun for the next billion years. The next Heavy rocket will be stuffed with satellites. One of them is scheduled to be Prox-1, a 154-pound, rectangular-shaped metal box that was built and tested by Jun, Pujari and other Georgia Tech students. It’s the first spacecraft built on campus that will fly in space.

“This is the part of the space industry that we live for,” said Professor Glenn Lightsey, who watched the launch with the students. “Ultimately, there is a day when you find out if the thing you’ve thought about and planned for actually works or not. Today (Tuesday) it happened for SpaceX. Six months from now, it will happen for us at Georgia Tech.”

Prox-1 is a 24” by 22” by 12” satellite that will deploy a smaller spacecraft, LightSail 2, which will attempt the first controlled solar sail flight in Earth orbit.

As that sail unfurls, Prox-1 will move and observe LightSail from a short distance and acquire images of the glimmering structure in action. Georgia Tech will serve as mission control.

“Our students are going to have their hardware in space, making measurements and sending their data back to Earth,” said Lightsey. “This is a really unique experience that wasn’t even possible before this century. It’s a new way of doing things in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education.”

Prox-1 is currently at the Air Force Research Lab in New Mexico, undergoing a series of tests to make sure the satellite can withstand the rugged, violent ride inside the Falcon Heavy. It’s one of the final pre-flight steps for a six-year project that has included more than 400 Georgia Tech students. From there it will be shipped to Florida and await an official launch date from SpaceX.

Although they enjoyed the experience together for Tuesday’s launch, don’t expect many of the same students to gather on campus to watch Prox-1 blast into space.

“Oh, I will be in Florida for sure!” said Pujari.

Source: http://www.news.gatech.edu/2018/02/07/successful-spacex-launch-clears-way-historic-georgia-tech-spacecraft

March 29, 2016 By AMK

Pentagon opens investigation into contracts with ULA

The internal watchdog for the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon’s contracts with United Launch Alliance (ULA) were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent procurement in favor of the company.

Atlas 5 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. Navy communications satellite in January 2015. Photo credit: ULA — **Atlas 5 rocket launch of a U.S. Navy communications satellite from Cape Canaveral in January 2015.** Photo credit: United Launch Alliance.

The investigation inside the Pentagon is the latest twist in one of the space industry’s leading storylines in recent years — the contentious rivalry between ULA, the sole launch services provider for the U.S. government for nearly a decade, and newcomer SpaceX led by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk.

DoD’s inspector general is looking into assertions made by Brett Tobey, ULA’s former vice president of engineering, during a March 15 seminar at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Tobey discussed ULA’s decision last year not to bid in a head-to-head competition with SpaceX for the launch of a Global Positioning System navigation satellite. At the time, ULA said it did not submit a proposal for the launch due to restrictions on the use of Russian engines on the Atlas 5 rocket and because it lacked accounting systems required in the structure of the Air Force’s request for bids.

Keep reading this article at: http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/03/24/pentagon-opens-investigation-into-contracts-with-ula/

U.S. military leaders are bullish about small satellites as tools to spy on adversaries and provide secure communications, but there’s just one problem: There isn’t a good way to get them into space, on demand.

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have split up to $645 million in new contracts to deploy U.S. Air Force navigation and surveillance satellites into orbit from 2019 through 2021.

They clapped when it cleared the launch pad. They oohed in awe as the booster rockets separated, then roared when the pair landed in synchronicity.

The internal watchdog for the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon’s contracts with United Launch Alliance (ULA) were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent procurement in favor of the company.

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