The US Space Force, long content with using just one or two contractors to carry the military’s most vital satellites into orbit, has announced it will seek a third provider for national security launch services in its next multibillion-dollar round of rocket procurement.
This is good news for Blue Origin, which has long sought to join the ranks of United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as the military’s preferred launch contractors. The Space Force has spent the last few months refining how it will purchase launch services for military satellites and National Reconnaissance Office spy payloads in the late 2020s and early 2030s.
Pardon the jargon
In February, the Space Force unveiled a “dual-lane” acquisition strategy that will include two tiers of space missions.
The military’s terminology in this area is filled with jargon. Essentially, the Space Force wants more launch providers to increase competition and reduce the military’s reliance on one or two companies. ULA and SpaceX are currently the only providers certified to launch national security space missions. So instead of grouping all these launches into one monolithic contract, the Space Force is dividing them into two classifications: Lane 1 and Lane 2.
Lane 1 will involve launches of more risk-tolerant missions. Those include smaller tech demos, experiments, and launches for the military’s new constellation of missile tracking and data relay satellites, an effort that will eventually include hundreds or thousands of spacecraft managed by the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency.
Rockets eligible for Lane 1 must be able to lift at least a metric ton (2,200 pounds) of payload into low-Earth orbit on a single flight. The military has a separate contracting mechanism to buy launches for lighter payloads, such as CubeSats.
Missions placed in “Lane 2” in the Space Force’s procurement approach will include the government’s most sensitive and costly national security satellites. These are often large, heavy spacecraft used for surveillance, weighing many tons and sometimes needing to go to orbits thousands of miles from Earth. Lane 2 missions also include GPS navigation satellites, which are not quite as expensive on an individual basis but are critical for a broad swath of military and civilian applications.
That’s where the Space Force has amended its launcher acquisition strategy over the last few months following consultations with industry representatives and a more clear-eyed assessment of how many missions the military and the NRO could fly to space over the next decade.
Instead of picking two companies to compete for these Lane 2 missions, the Space Force will now select three. Reflecting the change, the military’s Space Systems Command last week released a new draft of its request proposals for the upcoming launch services competition known as “National Security Space Launch Phase 3,” which covers five years of launch orders beginning in fiscal year 2025 (starting October 1, 2024), plus a follow-on five-year option period.
The Lane 2 contract winners will need to have medium-to-heavy lift rockets that can place payloads into nine reference orbits, ranging from low-Earth orbit a few hundred miles above the planet up to geosynchronous orbit, a lofty perch more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. Lofting a satellite directly from Earth’s surface into geosynchronous orbit in a single shot requires advanced capability that has only been mastered in the US by ULA and SpaceX.
“The Lane 2 missions are the most challenging missions,” said Col. Douglas Pentecost, deputy executive officer for Space Systems Command’s assured access to space. “These are the ones that are billion-dollar payloads going to unique orbits. Just to be blunt, they’re precious and required to meet the threats that are facing this nation. So we want 100 percrent mission success.”
Here's a quick overview of the terms:
- Lane 1: Smaller, less proven rockets supporting large satellite constellations and military tech demos (about 30 missions)
- Lane 2: Larger, more proven rockets for heavier payloads going into higher orbits (about 58 missions)
- Phase 2: The Space Force's previous rocket procurement round, which selected ULA and SpaceX as winners in 2020
- Phase 3: The Space Force's ongoing rocket procurement round, which aims to broaden the base of companies for military launches