{"id":11469,"date":"2022-06-10T17:34:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T09:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/u-s-space-force-orders-eight-launches-from-ula-and-spacex\/"},"modified":"2022-06-10T17:34:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T09:34:46","slug":"u-s-space-force-orders-eight-launches-from-ula-and-spacex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/u-s-space-force-orders-eight-launches-from-ula-and-spacex\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Space Force orders eight launches from ULA and SpaceX"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Artist\u2019s illustration of a Vulcan Centaur launch. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. Space Force recently ordered five military satellite launches from United Launch Alliance and three from SpaceX, awards valued at $846 million for missions scheduled to fly in the next two years.<\/p>\n

The task orders maintain the split between ULA and SpaceX for the U.S. military\u2019s National Security Space Launch, or NSSL, missions outlined in the Pentagon\u2019s Phase 2 launch service contracts awarded in 2020. ULA won 60% of the NSSL missions set to launch in a five-year period through 2027, and SpaceX won 40%.<\/p>\n

ULA and SpaceX won the Phase 2 launch services procurement over bids from Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman, giving the two companies rights to the launch the military\u2019s most critical and costly national security satellites.<\/p>\n

ULA\u2019s next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket and SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the eight missions over the next two years, according to the Space Force\u2019s Space Systems Command.<\/p>\n

The Phase 2 launch service contracts are the culmination of the Pentagon\u2019s effort to reintroduce competition into the military\u2019s launch procurements. ULA, a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, was the military\u2019s sole launch provider for large national security satellites for more than a decade until the Air Force certified SpaceX.<\/p>\n

The Space Force, which took over the military\u2019s launch service procurements from the Air Force, awards launch task orders on an annual basis under the auspices of the Phase 2 contracts with ULA and SpaceX.<\/p>\n

The 2022 awards announced last month included five launches for ULA, with a combined value of $566 million. The task orders for SpaceX\u2019s three Falcon 9 missions are worth $280 million.<\/p>\n

The five ULA missions are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 A Vulcan Centaur launch from Cape Canaveral to deploy the GPS 3-7 navigation satellite into a medium Earth transfer orbit<\/p>\n

\u2022 Three Vulcan Centaur launches from Cape Canaveral (codenamed USSF-16, USSF-23, and USSF-43) carrying classified payloads<\/p>\n

\u2022 A Vulcan Centaur launch from Cape Canaveral to deploy the Wideband Global SATCOM 11 communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit<\/p>\n

The three SpaceX missions are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 A Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral on the USSF-124 mission, carrying a payload into low Earth orbit for the Missile Defense Agency<\/p>\n

\u2022 A Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the USSF-62 mission, carrying the first Weather System Follow-on satellite into polar orbit<\/p>\n

\u2022 A Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the first mission carrying satellites for the Space Development Agency\u2019s Tranche 1 Transport Layer into polar orbit<\/p>\n

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File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket has launched 157 times, ULA\u2019s Vulcan Centaur is at least six months from its first test flight. ULA is developing the Vulcan Centaur rocket to replace the Atlas and Delta launcher families, which are slated for retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work closely with our launch service providers and mission partners to ensure launch capability exists to get our critical payloads to orbit on-time and without failure,\u201d said Col. Chad Melone, chief of the launch procurement and integration division at Space Systems Command. \u201cULA and SpaceX have highly capable launch systems and we have full confidence that they will meet our needs for the eight missions we ordered today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, more than ever, we must do everything in our power to ensure each national security space launch is successful,\u201d said Brig. Gen. Stephen Purdy, SSC\u2019s program executive officer for assured access to space, in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s the best way to stay ahead of our adversaries in the near term. We launch the nation\u2019s \u2018eyes and ears,\u2019 secure communications, GPS, and space awareness that provide our warfighters and national decision-makers with the vital information they need to protect our nation and allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist\u2019s illustration of a Vulcan Centaur launch. Credit: United Launch Alliance The U.S. Space Force recently ordered five military satellite launches from United Launch Alliance and three from SpaceX, awards valued at $846 million for missions scheduled to fly in the next two years. The task orders maintain the split between ULA and SpaceX for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}