WASHINGTON: Space Force is eyeing a new R&D effort to explore launch tech for cutting-edge missions, such as debris removal and lunar orbit ops, for the multi-billion National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program’s next phase — instead of simply heading into a new contract competition.

“We’re trying to be careful that we don’t box ourselves in. We really want to take advantage of the opportunity to understand what we’re facing, and make sure that we have the right plan in place,” Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) launch enterprise systems directorate, told the Mitchell Institute today.

Instead of asking for new bids from launch providers for the next five years, Space Force has issued a Request For Information for support to NSSL’s future program planning — asking industry to tell them what new capabilities may be on tap by the end of the decade. After all, Bongiovi said, the current NSSL “phase 2” contracts cover launches through 2026/2027.

SMC is “interested in space access, mobility, logistics, and innovation to meet existing NSSL requirements and future capabilities to provide increased resiliency and support multi-modal operations in diverse orbital regimes (e.g., beyond GEO, Cis-lunar, Trans-lunar, and Lagrange Points),” the RFI says.

As Breaking D readers know, the Space Force has been increasingly interested in operations such as space situational awareness and communications in cislunar orbit  (between Earth’s outer orbit and that of the Moon). That interest is driven by concerns about Chinese plans for deep space exploration, which many in the national security space community fear hide more militaristic goals.

The RFI also asks launch companies what plans they might have, or be willing to invest in, “to enable launch system/subsystem recovery/re-use, space vehicle servicing, orbital transfer, orbital debris collection, co-optimized space vehicle buses, standardized interfaces, and other similar services.”

Bongiovi said one approach could be to bifurcate NSSL “phase 3:” with one line of effort focused on continuing routine strategic launches through early 2030, and another looking at more futuristic options.

“I don’t think we’re at the position to know what the demand is … where industry is going, and what’s the viable way to consider other orbits,” he added.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX nabbed the hard-fought NSSL phase 2 awards in August. (Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin were the losers.) The immediate award to ULA, a Lockheed Martin-Boeing partnership, was for $337 million for two launches; and SpaceX’s was $316 million for one launch — all three classified. However, the overarching contract for the two firms is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) award, in principle covering all Space Force and NRO launches between 2022 and 2027, with ULA winning 60 percent and SpaceX 40 percent.

The Space Force currently plans some 34 launches by 2027. The most recent launch was by ULA, which successfully lifted the classified NROL-101 spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office using an Atlas V rocket on Nov. 13.

However, the NRO and the Space Development Agency (SDA) have recently solicited commercial launches outside of the NSSL program — prompting concern from Senate appropriators. In its version of the 2021 spending bill, Senate appropriators cut $95 million from the Space Force’s $1 billion-plus NSSL procurement request, complaining about “recent moves by some agencies to procure launches outside of the space launch enterprise through direct commercial contracts or delivery on orbit contracts.” Thus, the committee wants all natsec launches for “NSSL class” missions to use the phase 2 contract vehicle, unless Congress is informed of compelling reasons not to do so by the Defense Secretary and Director of National Intelligence.

Bongiovi, for his part, wouldn’t be drawn on the appropriator’s concerns, referring questions to the NRO and SDA.

“Phase 2 is to provide affordable, innovative access to space,” he said. “I’m going to be advocating the use of these tools that we’ve worked hard to make very customer focused as much as possible. I think you’ll have to talk to those two agencies on why they chose different approaches.”

Reusability will be a focus for the NSSL program in the immediate future, Bongiovi said. SpaceX successfully put up the fourth GPS III satellite, SV04, Nov. 5 on a Falcon 9 rocket, after a month-long delay. The firm recovered the rocket for future use by the Space Force, a move that SMC says saved the Space Force $65 million. 

SpaceX, Bongiovi said, will use that rocket next year, when it launches the GPS III SV05. That will be the first time a national security launch has been put into orbit on a reusable rocket, he said. One of the goals for the NSSL phase 2 effort, Bongiovi explained, is “to complete this transition to fully reusable SpaceX fleet for our national security space launch missions.”