Astronomy Prints 🌌: The small launch exodus to the missile defense market

12/03/2024

National security insights for space professionals. Delivered Tuesdays.

Welcome to this week's edition of SpaceNews Military, your concise source for the latest developments at the intersection of space and national security. In this issue, we cover:

- Lockheed challenges GPS vulnerability narrative

- Air Force backs commercial reentry vehicle technology

- Small launch startups shifting to missile defense

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Space & defense brief 🛰️

Lockheed Martin: GPS is stronger than you think

In the high-stakes world of satellite navigation, GPS has become a critical infrastructure that touches nearly every aspect of modern life and military operations. But recent years have seen growing concerns about the system's vulnerabilities and potential weaknesses.

Lockheed Martin, the contractor that manufacturers GPS satellites for the U.S. Space Force, is pushing back against what it sees as an overblown narrative of systemic risk in military GPS applications. During a recent press briefing, Lockheed Martin officials cited security advancements in the forthcoming GPS IIIF constellation.

Jesse Morehouse, Lockheed's director of strategy for space positioning, navigation and timing, argued that while threats like jamming and spoofing are real, some are overstated.
"M-code is very difficult, if not impossible, to spoof," Morehouse said, referring to the jam-resistant military signal unique to GPS. He acknowledged that while civilian systems remain more susceptible, military capabilities offer robust defenses.
The new GPS IIIF satellites, slated for their first launch in 2027, will feature enhanced jamming resistance and introduce the Regional Military Protection signal, a powerful tool designed to bolster security. But delays in upgrading ground systems and receivers have slowed adoption of these capabilities.

The Pentagon is working to diversify its positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) options, leveraging both existing GPS satellites and new commercial technologies under a program called Resilient GPS.

The Defense Department is also investing in PNT technologies that are GPS independent. DoD this week awarded an $11 million contract to the quantum technology firm Infleqtion to accelerate development of its atomic timing technology.

GPS IIIF illustration by Lockheed Martin

Air Force continues to invest in commercial space reentry vehicles

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) awarded California-based Varda Space Industries a $48 million contract to test military payloads using the company's reentry capsules.

Varda's factory-in-orbit spacecraft is designed to manufacture high-value materials like pharmaceuticals in microgravity and return them to Earth via advanced thermal-protected capsules.

The four-year deal with AFRL will see Varda's W-Series capsules serve as payload testbeds.
AFRL's partnership with Varda underscores the Pentagon's interest in more cost-effective hypersonic testing alternatives.
Varda's next mission, W-2, slated for early 2025, will showcase the company's Hypersonic Testbed vehicle.
Varda is part of a larger trend of defense investment in reentry capabilities. Inversion Space and Outpost Space, also California-based, recently secured contracts worth over $100 million to develop reusable capsules for both military and commercial applications.

ABL's pivot to missile defense is part of broader trend

ABL Space Systems, once considered a rising star in the small satellite launch sector, recently announced it was exiting the space launch market to focus on missile defense programs.

This move underscores broader challenges faced by small launch startups, says Quilty Space analyst Caleb Henry in a new report.

ABL has not yet detailed its plans for missile defense but is joining a growing list of startups abandoning or diversifying away from space launch into the defense sector.
Only a handful of prominent U.S. launch startups have stayed focused on the space launch market.

Why this keeps happening:

Hypersonics flight testing is a $6 billion to $7 billion market, making it about the same size as the global space launch market.
Since propulsion technology is dual use, it's clear why startups are drawn to a quick way of doubling their addressable market.
Then there's the harsh reality that several small launch startups bet on winning deals with megaconstellations, but those have gone almost exclusively to larger rockets.

In other news 🚀

The U.S. Space Force's and U.S. Space Command's top enlisted officials — Chief Master Sgt. John Bentivegna and Chief Master Sgt. Jacob Simmons — recently visited Pituffik Space Base, Greenland, along with a congressional delegation.

Pituffik is the Department of Defense's most northern and remote installation and is home to one of the Space Force's early missile warning and space domain awareness systems.

"The Department of Defense has unveiled a new Arctic strategy, underscoring the region's critical importance to our national security," Bentivegna said. "Maintaining a strong presence and projecting power from the Arctic is paramount."

Slingshot Aerospace won a $5.3 million contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to design the user experience for a next-generation space traffic coordination platform.

The project, known as the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), is a cornerstone initiative designed to modernize U.S. space traffic management and ensure the safety of civil and commercial satellites. NOAA expects TraCSS.gov, the system's primary interface, to launch by late 2025.

Voyager Space announced Dec. 2 it hired Wallis Laughrey as chief strategy officer.

Laughrey, who previously worked at Anduril Industries and at Raytheon Technologies, is joining Voyager Space's national security business.

The company is looking to grow its footprint in the defense sector. In October it announced that another former Raytheon executive, Matt Magaña, was named Voyager's executive vice president of national security.

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