Aerospace and Defense Review : News

The SBIRS ground control centers are the subject of a five-year sole-source contract for operations and maintenance. The US Space Force announced on June 4 that Lockheed Martin got awarded a 1 billion dollars contract to manage and maintain the ground control systems of the US military's Space Based Infrared System geostationary satellites. SBIRS is a component of the Pentagon's missile warning system, which detects ballistic missile launches. It consists of five satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit and two infrared sensors in a very elliptical orbit. Before the mid-1990s, Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor for SBIRS. On May 18, the launch of fifth satellite. The sixth and final SBIRS is currently in development and scheduled to debut in 2022. The SBIRS mission control center located at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado and several other centers at Greeley Air National Guard Station and Peterson Air Force Base will operate and maintained under the five-year sole-source contract. The contract covers logistics services of existing ground systems and upgrades required to operate its last two satellites of the SBIRS geosynchronous constellation, SBIRS GEO-5, and SBIRS GEO-6, according to Rob Walker, Lockheed Martin's director of overhead persistent infrared operations and sustainment. The Space Force intends to switch to a new system of missile warning satellites known as Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (NGOPI) and a new ground system known as Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE). The first of three Next-Gen OPIR geosynchronous satellites, built by Lockheed Martin, is scheduled to launch in 2025. The new contract will cover work on maintaining and sustaining infrastructure for the next-generation Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution ground control system and ensuring the operational integration of the SBIRS GEO-5 and GEO-6 satellites. See Also :  Top Bioinformatics Solution Companies ...Read more

Leveraging new Maxwell engines and industry-first subscription service - the P4 Pass - Phase Four is ready to reach a more significant part of the satellite market. Phase Four, the company that invented the radio-frequency thruster for satellite propulsion, stated today it would expand its Maxwell turn-key plasma propulsion line and introduce an industry-first long-term subscription model called "P4 Pass" to satellite manufacturers. Maxwell Block 2 expands mission possibilities, whereas Maxwell Block 3 improves performance dramatically.The P4 Pass, which assures set pricing and drastically reduced lead times, is available for both engines. Its development follows the company's recent announcement of a Series B financing deal. "There is a growing need for more flexible options with electric in-space propulsion, to provide satellites with enhanced on orbit capabilities." said Phase Four CEO Beau Jarvis. "For rapid constellation deployment and greater ROI, satellite manufacturers need significantly lower pricing and shorter lead times than exist in the market today." In early 2021, the Maxwell engine from Phase Four was certified for flight. Several Maxwell systems are now in orbit on small commercial satellites. The company plans to deliver more Maxwell units in the second half of 2021, with additional customer launches planned.Maxwell Block 2 relies on the flight-proven thruster and electronics of Maxwell Block 1 but adds a variety of propellant tank sizes and improved thermal management for more extended propulsion operations to suit a broader range of mission requirements. Maxwell Block 2 is currently available for pre-order, with deliveries set to begin in the first quarter of 2022.The thruster, power electronics, and propellant subsystems can all benefit from Maxwell's new chassis-style design, which allows for rapid on-ramping of advancements. Maxwell Block 3, expected in the 2nd quarter of 2022, includes Phase Four's next-generation electronics, allowing for enhanced performance, including double the fuel efficiency of the present Maxwell version. "Maxwell's new modular chassis architecture enables us to introduce improved capabilities within the same form factor," said Phase Four CTO Umair Siddiqui. "As more capable engines become available, our customers can easily integrate them into existing spacecraft bus designs that are already using earlier versions of Maxwell." Parallel to the Maxwell product line development, Phase Four is launching a long-term subscription program that gives satellite makers access to the highest-performing Maxwell engine at a fixed, discounted price and industry-leading lead times of 3-4 months from purchase to delivery. A two- or three-year subscription to P4 Pass offered.Subscribers get the best commercial pricing on Maxwell and get priority in the production queue at Phase Four. P4 Pass is currently available to clients all over the world till March 2022. Determining the availability by production capacity and is first-come, first served. ...Read more

GPS III Space Vehicle 05 (GPS III SV05), introduced earlier today, is the next next-generation GPS III satellite, a warfighting system owned and maintained by the Space Force. Lockheed Martin's fifth Global Positioning System III (GPS III) satellite is now on its way to an orbit 12,550 miles above Earth. This is another step toward assisting the United States Space Force's GPS satellite constellation modernization operations. GPS III Space Vehicle 05 (GPS III SV05), introduced earlier today, is the next next-generation GPS III satellite, a warfighting system owned and maintained by the Space Force. GPS III SV05 will be the 24th Military Code (M-Code) signal-enabled GPS space vehicle in orbit, completing the constellation's baseline requirement of providing military forces with a more secure, more difficult-to-jam, and spoof GPS signal. "With GPS III SV05, we continue our focus on rapidly fielding innovative capabilities for the Space Force's Positioning, Navigation and Timing Mission," stated Tonya Ladwig, Lockheed Martin vice president for Navigation Systems. "With each satellite we bring to orbit, we help the U.S. Space Force to modernize the GPS constellation's technology and to imagine future capability. Our next three satellites, GPS III SV06, SV07, and SV08, are already complete and just waiting for a launch date." After a 12:09 p.m. ET launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, US Space Force and Lockheed Martin engineers at the company's Denver GPS III Launch & Checkout Operations Center declared GPS III SV05 separated from its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and "flying" under their control about 90 minutes later. The GPS III SV05's onboard liquid apogee engine will continue to accelerate the satellite towards its operational orbit in the following days. Engineers will transmit commands to the satellite to deploy its solar arrays and antennae, as well as prepare GPS III SV05 for handover to Space Operations Command. ...Read more