National security insights for space professionals. Delivered Tuesdays.

In this week's edition:

• ULA to launch national security mission on Atlas 5

• DoD drops new Arctic strategy that highlights the role of satellites

• KBR to acquire defense and space contractor Linquest

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Today's highlights:

United Launch Alliance announced it plans to launch a national security mission, USSF-51, on July 30 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The mission will fly on an Atlas 5 rocket.

ULA said the classified payload arrived at Cape Canaveral July 17 and has been integrated with the rocket.
ULA won a $153 million contract in 2020 to launch USSF-51. The mission was supposed to be the first national security launch on ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket but was reassigned to the Atlas 5 in 2021 due to delays with Vulcan's development.
The company is preparing for Vulcan's second certification launch this fall. If the flight is successful, Vulcan could start launching national security payloads later in the year.

DoD drops 2024 Arctic Strategy

The Pentagon on Monday released a strategy for Arctic operations that highlights the military's reliance on satellites to keep tabs on the rapidly changing landscape. The department is calling for investments in space-based tech for communications and intelligence gathering.

The strategy paints a picture of increasing great power competition in the region. Russia's already got a strong presence, and China's looking to muscle in with infrastructure projects and military flexing.
Climate change is reshaping the Arctic fast. DoD says it needs space tech to keep up with the rapidly changing conditions.

The U.S. Space Force plays an important role supporting military operations up north. Service personnel oversee key installations like Clear Space Force Station in Alaska (home to a cutting-edge radar system) and Pituffik Space Base in Greenland (the northernmost U.S. military outpost).

New leader for SmallSat Alliance

The SmallSat Alliance has named Angel Smith as its new executive director, the group announced today. Smith, a retired Marine Corps officer and former House Intelligence Committee staffer, most recently served as an executive at Microsoft.

Smith will lead the alliance's efforts to promote commercial and small satellite technology for government use, with a focus on leveraging advancements like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems.

The SmallSat Alliance represents over 50 companies across the U.S. small satellite sector, advocating for space technology investments and American leadership in the global space economy.

Check out the latest episode of SpaceNews Leading Women in Space series. Correspondent Debra Werner speaks with Chiara Manfletti, CEO of Neuraspace.

In other news 🚀

U.S. defense contractor KBR has agreed to acquire LinQuest Corp., a specialist in national security space systems, for $737 million. The deal would allow KBR to bolster its footprint in the national security space sector.

LinQuest in 2018 was acquired by the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. The company focuses on engineering, data analytics and digital integration for national security space missions.

The company has secured several major contracts with the U.S. Space Force, including a $500 million, five-year deal in 2021 for analysis support, and a potential nine-year, $200 million contract from the Space Force's Space Operations Command.

Maxar Intelligence, a provider of geospatial intelligence and Earth observation services, last week released the first images from its WorldView Legion satellites.

WorldView Legion is Maxar's latest constellation of high-resolution Earth imaging satellites, designed to increase the company's imaging capacity and revisit rates. These satellites are capable of collecting 30 cm-class imagery, providing detailed views of the Earth's surface for a wide range of applications, from defense and intelligence to urban planning and disaster response.

Image: 30 cm-class images of San Francisco and Sacramento, California. Credit: Maxar

ABL Space Systems reported on Monday that the rocket it planned to use for the company's first launch in 18 months suffered "irrecoverable" damage in a fire after a test firing, further delaying its return to flight.

ABL said its RS1 rocket, which was being prepared for a launch from Kodiak Island, Alaska, was damaged in a fire after a static-fire test on the pad.

Lockheed Martin is both an investor and major customer of ABL.

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