Posted by Alumni from TechCrunch
April 25, 2024
The contract is part of a larger push from the Force to procure space capabilities ' like launch, satellite payload integration, and even satellite operations ' from private industry on timelines that have been previously unheard of. The initiative is called tactically responsive space, or TacRS, and it's already resulted in record-breaking missions: Firefly Space's Alpha rocket left the pad just 27 hours after it received its launch notice from the Space Force under its TacRS contract last year. While Gravitics was unable to provide more details as to the exact concept of operations, startup co-founder and CMO Mike DeRosa did clarify in an email that the company is not putting a module on a rocket for a tactically responsive launch. Instead, the mission is related to developing 'platforms to enable a new kind of tactically responsive space mission,' he said. The $1.7 million contract was awarded by SpaceWERX in partnership with Space Systems Command's Space Safari Program Office.... learn more