An Atlas V carrying the USSF-7 mission under the National Security Space Launch program lifts off, May 17, 2020. (Photo courtesy of United Launch Alliance)
WASHINGTON — The Space Force has assigned its final fiscal 2024 launch orders under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, with United Launch Alliance winning 11 and SpaceX 10, Space Systems Command (SSC) announced today.
The planned launches include a second SILENTBARKER watchdog satellite jointly developed by the service and the National Reconnaissance Office to be lifted to geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), according to the SSC announcement.
The launch orders are the last under the five-year NSSL Phase 2 program, under which ULA and SpaceX were the only providers chosen to compete for billions in funding. The Space Force got $1 billion from Congress in FY23 for NSSL, and requested a whopping $2.1 billion for FY24.
“Over the five-year Phase 2 contract, we will have ordered a total of 48 missions, a significant increase over the 34 missions originally estimated leading up to Phase 2,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, SSC’s program executive officer for assured access to space. “The increase in launch tempo is a clear reminder of how vital space-based capabilities are in providing our warfighters and our nation’s decision-makers with the information needed to stay ahead of and to deter adversarial forces.”
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The launch orders cover everything from five NRO birds to three new model Global Positioning System satellites, to a clutch of low Earth orbit satellites for the Space Development Agency, to the first SSC Missile Track Custody (MTC) prototype satellite. While the orders are being made now, actual launches won’t begin until FY26 due to SSC’s two-year planning cycle.
Among ULA’s newly scheduled NSSL Phase 2 launches are SILENTBARKER2/NROL-118 and two more NRO satellites. The company also will launch the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, designed to test a nuclear thermal rocket for on-orbit operations.
SpaceX’s planned launches include the USSF-57 mission to loft the first of three Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellites to GEO.
SSC intends to choose three providers to vie for the next five-year set of critical launches (primarily those going to GEO) under its NSSL Phase 3 program, as well as on-ramp commercial firms providing small and medium launch, as well as rideshare, services for lower risk missions.
Both ULA and SpaceX are expected to complete for what the Space Force calls NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 for mission critical launches, along with billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.
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“In the end, what we’re really going to have to figure out here is: what needs to change? Is it policies? Is it authorities? Is it processes? Is it funding? Is it purely just advocacy and communication?” said National Space Council Director Chirag Parikh.
