editorial

Thales expands its footprint in satellite communications providing a reliable Push-to-Talk service that operates anywhere in the world as a result of the success of the ThalesLINK on Iridium Certus L-band product series,

In partnership with ESChat, Thales is now offering Push-to-Talk (PTT) over satellite for customers worldwide. Users that have purchased ThalesLINK solutions, such as Thales MissionLINK or Thales VesseLINK 200 and 700 systems, can now access a reliable low-latency PTT solution.

The launch comes after months of rigorous beta testing and vetting by Thales’ certified official resellers, who will offer the service to customers in a variety of markets across the globe such as public safety, search and rescue, defense, utilities, mining, shipping and many more.

ThalesLINK solutions operate on the Iridium Certus network of 66 Low Earth Orbit satellites that cover 100% of the globe, providing coverage anywhere in the world regardless of weather or terrain. Combining this technology with the ESChat application, Thales now provides an always-on robust Push-to-Talk service for users anytime, anywhere.

“Our partnership with ESChat was strategic to deliver a truly reliable Push-to-Talk solution. We heard market feedback about having access to a low-latency PTT service over Iridium Certus and we are excited to deliver exactly that.” said Brian Aziz, Vice President of Satcom Solutions, Thales Defense & Security Inc.

Terran Orbital Corporation’s Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Marc Bell will provide a presentation at the 2022 MilSat Symposium during The Silicon Valley Space Week symposium, October 13-14 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Silicon Valley Space Week (SVSW) is the amalgamation of Satellite Innovation, the MilSat Symposium and several important industry networking events. 

Terran Orbital’s expertise is in satellite solutions, primarily serving the United States and Allied aerospace and defense industries. The company provides end-to-end satellite solutions by combining satellite design, production, launch planning, mission operations, and on-orbit support to serve the needs and challenges of military, civil, and commercial customers.

Bell’s presentation and the panel will address
Crafting Launch Services for DoD Requirements
October 13 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Other panelists include:

• Steve Kaufman, Partner, Hogan Lovells
• Clint Hunt, Col., USAF (Ret.), Director, Intelligence and Defense Programs, United Launch Alliance
• Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Astra
• Jason B. Mello, President, Firefly Space Transport Services
• Brian Rogers, Government Launch Services Director, Rocket Lab

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has awarded one, firm-fixed price, Other Transaction prototype agreement, with a total potential value of approximately $176 million, to Ball Aerospace of Broomfield, Colorado, for the establishment of the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) Experimental Testbed (NExT).

The prototype agreement includes development, manufacture, deployment, launch, and operations of a set of 10 space vehicles and mission-enabling ground systems, set to fly starting in 2024. The experimental testbed will demonstrate warfighter utility of emerging mission partner payloads prior to potential incorporation in future tranches.

Ball will perform integration of government furnished payloads and will operate the NExT satellites from their facilities in Colorado.

NExT is not part of the NDSA Tranche architecture, but will demonstrate low-latency data transport and beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) command and control. NExT will experiment with the infrastructure established by the Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) to field and connect additional space vehicles with different mission payload configurations.

“NExT is an exciting program that has a lot of tie in with our mission partners and will help to advance future tranches of the National Defense Space Architecture,” said Derek Tournear, SDA director. “We’re confident that selection of the Ball Aerospace team provides the best overall solution to deliver NExT, including payload integration and launch.”

“Ball Aerospace is excited to work with SDA on the upcoming NExT program,” said Dave Kaufman, president, Ball Aerospace. “As the prime contractor on this program, Ball Aerospace is leveraging our heritage and proven experience of assembly, integration and test of complex payloads while bringing together an innovative industry team to quickly deliver needed capabilities to ensure SDA mission success.”

SDA is a direct reporting unit to U.S. Space Force. Recognized as DOD’s constructive disruptor for space acquisition, SDA will accelerate delivery of needed space-based capabilities to the joint warfighter to support terrestrial missions through development, fielding, and operation of the National Defense Space Architecture.

Firefly Aerospace, a provider of launch, spacecraft, and in-space services, announced that its Alpha FLTA002 mission successfully reached orbit and deployed customer payloads, lifting off on October 1 at 12:01am PST from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.  

With the success of this mission, Firefly is now the first company to launch and reach orbit from U.S. soil in only its second attempt. Additionally, Firefly also is the first U.S. commercial space company with a rocket ready to take customers to space in the highly desired 1300kg payload lift class. Firefly sends special thanks to SLD-30 for their continued support and partnership and the customers on FLTA002 for their dedication and unwavering confidence in Firefly’s technology. 

 FLTA002 deployed a total of three payloads, including demonstration satellites from NASA TechEdSat-15 in conjunction with San Jose State University (SJSU), Teachers in Space, and Libre Space Foundation. These payloads will perform several in-space experiments, including an “exo-brake” to help in the deorbiting of satellites and test the world’s first fully-free and open-source telecommunications constellation.

“With the success of this flight, Firefly has announced to the world there is a new orbital launch vehicle, available today, with a capacity that is pivotal to our commercial and government customers,” said Bill Weber, Firefly CEO. “Proving our flight and deployment capabilities on only our second attempt is a testament to the maturity of our technology and the expertise of our team. This is an exciting day at Firefly, and we have many, many more ahead. I could not be more excited for the Firefly team.”

Alpha is an all-composite rocket that uses patented tap-off engine cycle technology, which reduces cost and improves efficiency while maintaining the strength and reliability of the rocket. During the mission, Alpha successfully completed all major technical milestones, including a two-burn maneuver, relighting the second stage during its first orbital flight.

“I am so proud of everyone in the company, both past and present, who have shared my dream of starting a launch company that would further revolutionize the space economy,” said Tom Markusic, Firefly Founder and Chief Technology Advisor. “The Firefly team set out to develop the best small launch vehicle in the world. Mission accomplished!”

Building on this recent success, Firefly is completing the Acceptance Testing Protocol (ATP) for its Alpha 3 vehicle in preparation for its upcoming NASA VCLS Demo 2-FB ELaNa 43 launch. In addition, Firefly continues the production of multiple rockets at its Texas manufacturing facilities using all the lessons learned from existing flights and testing. Firefly is scheduled for six Alpha launches to take customer payloads to space in 2023, and 12 more in 2024.

Alpha FLTA002 Mission Details

The flight began with a nominal countdown and lift-off at 12:01 AM PDT and progressed flawlessly through each stage of flight, then inserting into an elliptical transfer orbit, coasting to apogee, and performing a circularization burn with confirmation of final payload deployment at approximately T+1 hour, which is one of the most technically challenging aspects of the mission. 

FLTA002 deployed a total of three payloads, including demonstration satellites from NASA TechEdSat-15 in conjunction with San Jose State University (SJSU), Teachers in Space, and Libre Space Foundation. These payloads will perform several in-space experiments, including an “exo-brake” to help in the deorbiting of satellites and test the world’s first fully-free and open-source telecommunications constellation.

Firefly is a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners, LP (“AEI”), a private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense & government services, space, power & utility services, and specialty industrial markets.

A new, hyper-intelligent, Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), is being developed by Inmarsat — this technology will bring a wealth of new, additional connectivity capabilities for mobility businesses worldwide, as part of Inmarsat’s global ORCHESTRA network, which will integrate Inmarsat’s existing GEO networks with terrestrial 5G plus a new, targeted, LEO satellite deployment.

This SD-WAN solution offers a network of networks to route data intelligently and dynamically via the most efficient and relevant paths, depending on the nature of the information. Multiple pathways will be available via ORCHESTRA, from existing networks in Ka-band with Global Xpress, or in L-band via ELERA, as well as in the future via 5G terrestrial connectivity and LEO satellites.

As demand for reliable connectivity in global mobility markets, such as aviation and maritime, continues to grow, peak-time capacity and multi-dimensional networks that can draw upon the right options at the right time are more important than ever. With our customer’s digital demands growing at pace, they seek much more advanced networks to meet their evolving business challenges.

SD-WAN is being implemented across Inmarsat’s infrastructure with crucial contributions by technology partner Livewire Digital leveraging its innovative RazorLink® technology. It anticipates demand from mobility customers and futureproofs Inmarsat operations, allowing the company to add new networks and waveforms seamlessly.

Integration of the base technology in Inmarsat networks and products is ensuring full mobility support and regulatory compliance, driving industry innovation and ensuring that global mobility customers have the connectivity needed to succeed for the long-term, both for their existing offerings and for their next innovations, whatever they may be.

SD-WAN delivers the vision of a network of networks by smoothly and efficiently combining satellite and terrestrial internet protocol (IP) networks. By combining multiple networks, SD-WAN will deliver excellent customer experience through highly secure, ultra-reliable global connectivity, which are crucial in serving mobility customers. Upcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning-based (ML) algorithms will influence dynamically the network selection and routing decisions to further optimize the customer’s experience.

As an example, within the maritime industry, SD-WAN can help identify and separate traffic securely between users – from ship owner, to operator, to manager, to crew, to charterers, to application providers – and ensure ultra-high resiliency for mission critical traffic or life-critical live applications, such as Medicare or autonomous shipping. It will also enhance the user experience thanks to direct cloud connections and help users make the most of the available networks by using dynamic bandwidth management.

For the growing Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market, SD-WAN is enabling the development of diverse communications technologies like Inmarsat ELERA and LTE/5G for use in uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and flying taxis. It will also help create a common structure for better information exchange between vehicles and ground systems. In such a complex sector of aviation, no one single communications technology is sufficient on its own, therefore delivering a combined network leveraging multiple independent networks is vital, especially in terms of safe and reliable operations.

Finally, for emergency services, SD-WAN will enable them to access multiple networks in tandem with Inmarsat ELERA with no impact on their applications, delivering the level of resilience and availability required.

Peter Hadinger, Chief Technology Officer at Inmarsat, said, “Every ORCHESTRA needs a conductor and this new offering from Inmarsat performs that role, choosing the best routes for information on our network to take, depending on the class or priority of the information in question. SD-WAN uses flexible and defined policies to segregate traffic and route it accordingly and intelligently. Different types of data may start and finish at common points but can take entirely different routes to arrive to optimise their journeys.”

Haddinger added, “When driving years ago you would use a paper map, but this could not tell you about congestion, traffic jams, accidents, road works and the like. Now your satellite navigation unit advises you the best route in real time based on many different factors. SD-WAN offers something similar for communications data. It takes into account any issues on a network automatically, finding better routes for data and it can offer other paths en route as conditions on the network change. With our growing geostationary satellite fleet and a number of frequency bands at our disposal, we have multiple pathways that can be used in different ways for different needs and providing different routes for data that others cannot match. This advantage for our customers will only increase further as ORCHESTRA continues to develop.”

Tristan Wood, Managing Director at Livewire Digital, said, “Hybrid connectivity is critical to the future of the global mobility industry. Inmarsat ORCHESTRA is the driving force in creating this, and Livewire Digital is proud for RazorLink SD-WAN to be a part of it. RazorLink offers a comprehensive solution providing WAN optimisation, bonding across disparate service groups and the capability to seamlessly route traffic across the most appropriate combination of networks. This makes it possible for Inmarsat’s customers to operate far more efficiently.”

SpinLaunch has announced the results of their tenth successful Flight Test of its Suborbital Accelerator from Spaceport America, New Mexico. The flight test, which occurred on September 27, 2022, demonstrated that SpinLaunch partners’ standard satellite components are inherently compatible with SpinLaunch’s launch environment, and provided critical flight data, as all payloads were flown and recovered successfully.

Flight Test 10, which had a similar flight trajectory as previous campaigns, was witnessed by more than 150 partners, government officials, and industry advocates. This was the company’s tenth flight test in just under 11 months since the Suborbital Mass Accelerator came online in late 2021.

Test Flight Payloads

Four partner payloads, as well as two instrumentation payloads, were flown on the Suborbital Accelerator Flight Test Vehicle. For partners, the flight test provided critical data on the launch environment and payload integration process. As part of the pre-flight qualification process, SpinLaunch accelerated payloads up to 10,000G in SpinLaunch’s 12-meter Lab Accelerator at its Long Beach headquarters. Payloads were inspected post-spin and subsequently integrated into the Flight Test Vehicle in preparation for Flight Test 10.

NASA Captures Insights and Data from SpinLaunch’s Payload Integration Process, Testing & Launch Environment

Earlier this year, SpinLaunch signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to develop, integrate and fly a NASA payload, providing the agency with the information necessary to determine the potential of future commercial launch opportunities with SpinLaunch. Two key goals were at the heart of the agreement: to better understand SpinLaunch’s payload integration and testing procedures, and gain insight into the mass accelerator launch environment.

To fulfill this objective, NASA provided a Data Acquisition Unit (DAQ) to capture critical launch characteristics of SpinLaunch’s kinetic launch system. The sensor suite was equipped with two accelerometers in addition to a gyroscope, magnetometer, and sensors for pressure, temperature, and humidity.

Prior to handoff, NASA performed their own thermal and acceleration tests to validate the DAQ would capture the desired launch environment data. After the NASA qualification tests, SpinLaunch conducted high-g acceleration testing on the DAQ and confirmed function of the hardware in advance of the Suborbital Accelerator Flight Test.

After the completion of Flight Test 10, the DAQ was successfully recovered and removed from the Flight Test Vehicle. SpinLaunch test engineers retrieved the data and reviewed it with NASA personnel from their Flight Opportunities program, who were onsite to observe the Flight Test in person.

Satellite Partners Learn Valuable Information about SpinLaunch’s Mass Accelerator Launch Environment

Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. is a leading provider of satellite systems. For Flight Test 10, Airbus U.S. provided their satellite sun sensor, which is typically used for spacecraft attitude control and positioning purposes.

The sun sensor was tested at 10,000G in SpinLaunch’s 12-meter Lab Accelerator prior to integrating it with the flight test vehicle. Successful testing to 10,000G was the first step in qualifying subsystems for use on SpinLaunch’s orbital launch system. Following both the high-g centrifuge pre-launch testing and Flight Test 10, the sun sensor’s output signal was compared to the preflight data. This comparison testing verified that the performance and operation of the sun sensor was not affected by the loads during the pre-flight, flight, or recovery phases. Together, SpinLaunch and Airbus U.S. plan to work together to qualify a variety of Airbus U.S. satellite systems that are compatible with the SpinLaunch orbital centrifuge and flight environment.

Cornell Engineering’s Space Systems Design Studio (SSDS) has developed and launched small, inexpensive satellites called ChipSats to provide distributed in-situ measurements of the upper atmosphere of multiple planets, including Earth. Flight Test 10 exercised the operation of a SpinLaunch designed payload deployment system, which released multiple ChipSats from the Flight Test Vehicle. The payload deployment system is a key value SpinLaunch can provide Suborbital Launch customers and partners. Future SpinLaunch tests with SSDS may include high altitude ChipSat dispersion to verify the accuracy of SSDS’s ChipSat reentry and atmospheric trajectory simulations.

Outpost, a company developing reusable satellites for high-precision Earth return, provided SpinLaunch with an onboard computer for testing and qualification in the SpinLaunch launch environment. A preflight test was performed in the SpinLaunch Lab Accelerator to qualify the unit for the Flight Test.

After a successful flight and recovery of the payload, a final functional test was performed, validating the flight computer is compatible with SpinLaunch’s launch environment. The flight test represents the first step towards the broader qualification of Outpost components and structures for SpinLaunch’s orbital centrifuge and launch environment. SpinLaunch and Outpost plan to continue their ongoing collaboration as both organizations seek to provide lower cost, more sustainable access to space.

“Flight Test 10 represents a key inflection point for SpinLaunch, as we’ve opened the Suborbital Accelerator system externally for our customers, strategic partners, and research groups,” said Jonathan Yaney, Founder & CEO of SpinLaunch. “The data and insights collected from flight tests will be invaluable for both SpinLaunch, as we further the development of the Orbital Launch system, and for our customers who are looking to us to provide them with low-cost, high-cadence, sustainable access to space.”

“Our Airbus U.S. engineering team is excited to work with SpinLaunch in support of this significant advancement of a new accelerated launch concept,” said Airbus U.S. CTO, Armen Askijian. “We look forward to continued collaboration and future success.”

“Centimeter-scale spacecraft will be a critical tool in future planetary science missions,” said Hunter Adams, a lecturer in Cornell Engineering’s school of electrical and computer engineering. “Deployed en masse from orbit, ChipSats will descend through the atmosphere and down to the surface of this planet and others, gathering spatially distributed datasets as they fall. To plan these missions, we must understand the chaotic trajectories that low-mass and high-surface area objects take from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of the planet. By conducting experiments with SpinLaunch’s Suborbital Accelerator, we can gather critical information for planning future planetary science missions involving ChipSats. It is absolutely a game-changer for centimeter-scale spacecraft research.”

“Outpost and SpinLaunch share the same mission of providing customers with low-cost, rapid launch – which means rethinking the way we access space,” said Michael Vergalla, co-founder and CTO at Outpost. “Testing our hardware with SpinLaunch’s mass accelerator gives us options and provides valuable engineering data for developing our hardware to be compatible with their launch system and unlock the upside of low-cost and high-cadence launch.”

SpinLaunch was founded by Jonathan Yaney, in 2014, to reimagine space launch technology and enable sustainable and easy access to space. The company is building a ground-based, kinetic launch system that delivers a substantially less expensive and environmentally sustainable system to place constellations of small satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). SpinLaunch is based in Long Beach, California, and has built its Suborbital Mass Accelerator at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company is on target to place satellites into orbit and deliver payloads for spacefaring endeavors by 2026. SpinLaunch is supported by partners, including ATW Partners, Kleiner Perkins, GV, Airbus Ventures. In 2022, SpinLaunch was named as one of the most innovative companies by TIME Magazine.

DIY Satellite, an Argentinean company that designs, develops, and delivers PocketQube-based satellite missions has selected UARX Space, a European leader dedicated to in-space transportation and developer of highly reliable separation systems for small satellites, for multiple launch services for their PocketQube deployers.

DIY Satellite launches are scheduled for 2023 and 2024. “UARX Space is one of the top launch service providers in Europe; we are thrilled to launch our deployers with them and to start brokering services in Latin America with the sign of this Agreement,” said Mr. Gustavo Carpignano, CEO of DIY Satellite.

UARX will launch into space DIY Satellite deployers with its customers. Launches are scheduled for 2023 and 2024 and are part of the launch manifest of UARX for the next coming years.

“We welcome DIY Satellite as our new customer, and we thank Gustavo and his team for their trust while looking forward to future missions with them,” says Mr. Andrés Villa, CTO of UARX Space. “This collaboration expands the growing UARX Space customer’s portfolio to Latin America”, Andrés said.

Atos is supporting the European Space Agency (ESA) in its planned improvements for Vega-C, the new single body rocket, whose inaugural launch took place on July 13, 2022. Atos contributes to this program by providing key testing equipment for the main launcher and is also providing testing equipment for the “Space Rider” reusable spacecraft  which will be launched on Vega-C, enlarging versatility and space transportation capabilities of this new European launch system.

Vega-C is a new generation rocket, more powerful and flexible than its predecessors and with more capacity to carry satellites and nanosatellites. It supports Europe’s global competitiveness by enabling key space missions which meet the needs of local institutions and industry. 

Atos is part of the team that develops a test facility for the Vega-C rocket in the frame of the launcher’s Competitiveness Improvement Activities. The Atos team of space experts based in the Czech Republic supplies a system called “Vega Navigation Ground Support Equipment”, specifically designed to test the launcher’s new Inertial Reference Unit. In addition, the Atos experts based in Romania are contributing to the “Space Rider” spacecraft,  which will be launched on top of Vega-C and which will be put into orbit for about 2 months before coming back to Earth. This uncrewed robotic laboratory will be Europe’s first reusable space transportation system. 

More specifically, the Atos team is implementing the Electrical Ground Support Equipment which supports integration and validation for various sub systems of “Space Rider”. This equipment includes a Central Checkout System, Special Checkout Equipment for Power, Radio Frequency, Telemetry & Telecommands, an Umbilical Validation Tool, a Solar Array Simulator, as well as many other simulators for various other sub-systems.

“We are proud to offer best-in-class technology – including satellite testing, satellite monitoring and space data analytics – for a wide range of space missions for European, national, defense and commercial customers. It is with great emotion that we watched the inaugural launch of Vega-C, which is an ambitious program and a very good example of successful European cooperation in space!” said Bruno Milard, VP, Head of Business Unit Aerospace & Defense Electronics, Atos.

Romania is a key contributor to the Vega-C program. Romanian experts from various organizations have performed aerodynamic and acoustic tests, verifications, and validations of the Vega-C navigation system, as well as the integration and validation of systems for the Space Rider spacecraft flying with Vega-C. 

“Romania’s participation in the ESA launcher program and particularly in Vega-C, Ariane 6 and Space Rider represents a key investment in the future of the Romanian space field. We have opened the way for Romanian organizations to contribute to the realization of the newest European rockets and space vehicles. The collaboration with European integrators and European companies already established in the development of space vehicles has contributed to the development of critical capabilities in our country,” said Dr. Phys. Marius-Ioan Piso, President of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA).

Atos in Romania is a key competency center for Atos’ global solutions for space. Local teams have extensive experience in the fields of Electrical Ground Support Equipment, Mission Control Systems, Ground Stations and Federated Identity Management.

Atos experts have already been contributing to various other significant ESA and non-ESA missions, such as Euclid, Juice, Proba-3, MetOp SG, Plato, Sentinel 5 & 6 and OneWeb.

Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) has entered into a definitive agreement with QinetiQ Group plc (“QinetiQ Group”) to acquire that firm’s QinetiQ Space NV (“Space NV”) business, a Belgium-based commercial space business providing design and integration of critical space infrastructure and other instruments for end-to-end space missions.

Under the terms of the agreement, Redwire will acquire Space NV for 32 million euros, subject to customary working capital adjustments. Upon closing, the transaction is expected to be accretive to Redwire’s Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow.

Founded in 1983, the Space NV business has more than 35 years of mission heritage on-orbit, delivering observation, platforms, science, navigation and secure communications critical infrastructure to civil and commercial space customers, including the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). Space NV’s core product offerings complement Redwire’s portfolio and include advanced payloads, smallsat technology, berthing and docking equipment and space instruments. Space NV is expected to provide Redwire with enhanced scale and innovation capabilities across numerous high-growth space areas, an expanded total addressable market and increased exposure to European customers.

Space NV has experienced profitable topline growth and features a strong financial profile. For the year ended March 31, 2022, as reported by QinetiQ Group, Space NV recorded 49 million euros of revenue and 3 million euros of profit after taxes. The transaction is expected to meaningfully increase Redwire’s revenue by leveraging Space NV’s customer base and increase access to multiple new market opportunities. As of March 31, 2022, Space NV had contracted backlog of 113 million euros.

Space NV has independent facilities, management and operations, which is expected to enable a seamless transition upon closing of the transaction. Redwire will use Space NV’s existing management and operational structures and anticipates integrating the companies without disruption to either business.

“Space NV has a long and successful history of operating in space and deploying leading space innovation for their customers, including ESA, BELSPO, and many European commercial space companies. Space NV’s values align perfectly with Redwire’s ‘Heritage plus Innovation’ positioning and proven performance, supporting NASA, the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), U.S. national security and many multi-national commercial space entities,” said Peter Cannito, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Redwire. “Space NV is expected to provide Redwire with increased scale, broader access to addressable markets and significant backlog to bolster our growth platform. Redwire and Space NV together equate to over 100 years of combined history and expertise supporting some of the most stalwart space customers in the world. These deep customer relationships are foundational to our future growth.”

Erik Masure, Managing Director of Space NV, said, “We are excited to be combining our business with Redwire, a leader in space infrastructure well positioned to help us continue delivering on Space NV’s potential in the international space market. We are confident that Space NV will benefit from Redwire’s expertise, talented team and leading infrastructure, and look forward to the future growth opportunities ahead for our business and employees. Joining forces with Redwire is an ideal path forward for Space NV as we continue to design and deliver mission successes to our customers.”

Transaction Financing and Closing

Redwire has received financing commitments for equity-linked securities from AE Industrial Partners. After giving effect to this financing, the transaction is expected to be financially accretive.

The transaction is subject to customary approvals and closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The U.S. Space Force’s Small Launch and Targets Division’s Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, part of Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Assured Access to Space (AATS) organization, awarded a $29.9 million task order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on Sept. 30, 2022, for the Space Test Program (STP)-S29A launch service. This is the fourth task order under the Orbital Services Program-4 (OSP-4) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. STP-S29A is a complex mission that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation’s Minotaur IV launch vehicle will deliver up to 200kg of STP cubesats, with specific payloads finalized during task order performance, to low earth orbit with a planned launch date in Sept. 2024.

“The competitive award of the STP-S29A task order is a prime example of the flexible and responsive contracting processes that SSC is using to deliver resilient and affordable space capabilities,” said Col. Chad Melone, SSC Launch Procurement and Integration Division, chief. “I’m proud of the work AATS is doing to support the Department of Defense’s (DOD) science and technology efforts.”

The STP-S29A mission will provide orbital launch services for the DOD STP. The DOD STP advances the maturation of space-based warfighter technologies across the DOD enterprise by providing space access solutions for all research and development-related DOD auxiliary payloads on DOD, civil, and commercial launches and for all non-DOD auxiliary payloads seeking launch opportunities on DOD missions. STP will provide payloads for STP-S29A via the DOD Space Experiments Review Board along with international and rideshare experiments. 

OSP-4 allows for the rapid acquisition of launch services to meet mission requirements enabling launch within 12-24 months from task order award on a competitive basis. OSP-4 also allows for periodic on-ramps throughout the ordering period to ensure that emerging, innovative launch providers can compete for future missions. 

Space Systems Command, headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California, is the USSF 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.