The Space Development Agency taps 19 companies for future defense demo missions | TechCrunch

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has selected 19 companies to compete for future contracts under a new program designed to rapidly onboard new contractors for defense demonstration missions. Each company will receive an initial $20,000 to cover administrative expenses. 

These companies have essentially been preapproved to bid on future prototype missions to support the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a massive planned satellite constellation in low Earth orbit that will provide missile tracking and advanced communications capabilities for the Department of Defense (DOD). 

The Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) program awardees will compete on programs related to a batch of planned satellites in the PWSA called the Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T2DES). (It’s a mouthful, but each layer of the constellation is referred to as a “tranche.”) T2DES will likely include around 20 satellites configured into several variants. According to the program solicitation, HALO contracts “will focus on rapid, end-to-end mission demonstrations designed to launch 2 identical satellites” between 12 and 18 months after the award date. 

These satellites will augment what the SDA calls the Tranche 2 transport layer, a vast constellation of over 200 satellites that will provide high-speed communications and data relays for the DOD. 

But as the pool of awardees suggests, the HALO awardees will also be able to compete for other missions to support PWSA for capabilities like launch or on-orbit transport. Firefly, for example, touted in a statement its forthcoming Elytra orbital transfer vehicle as a product that could support the SDA’s objectives. Other companies also commended the SDA for the development of the program.

“This selection underscores our commitment to innovation in space technology and our readiness to support SDA’s mission of enhancing national security through advanced space capabilities,” said CesiumAstro’s VP of business development, Trey Pappas.

The 19 companies selected via the program include venture-backed startups like Apex, Capella Space, CesiumAstro, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, LeoStella, Momentus, Muon Space, SpaceX, and Turion Space. Airbus, AST SpaceMobile, Astro Digital, Geneva Technologies, Kepler Communications, Kuiper Government Solutions, NovaWurks, Terran Orbital, and York Space Systems were also selected.

The Space Development Agency has already awarded hundreds of millions in contracts to private companies to help establish a missile tracking and communications satellite constellation in low Earth orbit. Programs like HALO are to help nontraditional defense contractors compete for these potentially lucrative awards. The SDA anticipates to award multiple contracts to vendors in the HALO program, the agency said.