Space Development Agency awards $1.5 billion to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for 72 satellites

The Space Development Agency announced Aug. 21 it awarded contracts worth $1.5 billion to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to build and operate 72 satellites. The Space Development Agency (SDA), an organization under the U.S. Space Force, is building a mesh network of military satellites in low Earth orbit. The 72 satellites will make up a portion of SDA’s network known as Tranche 2 Transport Layer. SDA is building a large constellation called the proliferated warfighter space architecture that includes a Transport Layer of interconnected communications satellites and a Tracking Layer of missile-detection and warning sensor satellites. Northrop Grumman’s contract for 36 satellites is worth approximately $733 million. The agreement with Lockheed Martin, also for 36 satellites, is worth $816 million, SDA said. Transport Layer Tranche 2 “will provide global communications access and deliver persistent regional encrypted connectivity in support of warfighter missions around the globe,” the agency said. The 72 satellites ordered from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are the “Beta” portion of Tranche 2 Transport Layer. They will be deployed in orbital planes of 12 satellites each, with the first plane projected to launch in September 2026.

Rendering of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta data transport satellites. Credit: Northrop Grumman

Commercial-like model

SDA uses a commercial-like model to acquire satellites, incrementally adding new technologies as they become available, in contrast to DoD’s traditional method of funding one large acquisition over many years.

“We are now solidly in the procurement phase for Tranche 2 of the PWSA to support a 2026 delivery,” said Derek Tournear, SDA director. “Tranche 2 brings global persistence for all our capabilities in Tranche 1 and adds advanced tactical data links and future proliferated missions.

The Beta variant of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer vehicles are similar to the 126 Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites that SDA ordered last year from Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and York Space.

The Tranche 2 contracts make Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman the largest awardees of SDA satellite contracts. In February 2022, SDA selected Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and York Space Systems to each produce 42 satellites for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer. Northrop Grumman in July 2022 also won a contract for 14 missile-tracking satellites for SDA’s Tracking Layer Tranche 1.

To date Lockheed Martin has won SDA contracts for 88 satellites and Northrop Grumman has won orders for 92 satellites.

Firefly to launch Lockheed Martin small-satellite experiment

Firefly Aerospace signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin to launch a small satellite aboard Firefly’s Alpha vehicle. The agreement, announced June 29, is to launch a Lockheed Martin technology demonstration mission. Firefly did not disclose the estimated timeline for this launch. “We are working with Firefly because of their innovative performance in offering access to space for small payloads on Firefly Alpha,” said Dan Tenney, vice president of strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin Space. Lockheed Martin is developing a number of self-funded space experiments to demonstrate technologies for government customers. The company in 2021 signed an agreement to launch up to 58 payloads with ABL Space, a small-satellite launcher in which Lockheed Martin has made a strategic investment. ABL’s first launch attempt in January failed and the company has not yet announced when it will try to launch again. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson told SpaceNews the company continues to work with ABL. “We still have our agreement with ABL and are assisting with their return to flight. While ABL works toward their next flight, we have launch requirements to meet for our tech demos. We look forward to working with Firefly to meet those needs.”

Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle. Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Two upcoming Alpha launches

Firefly, founded in 2014, has launched its Alpha rocket twice from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

The Alpha launch vehicle was designed to lift more than 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

Alpha’s first launch failed in September 2021. The second launch in October 2022 reached orbit although the payloads were inserted into a lower orbit than planned and reentered Earth’s atmosphere after several days.

The company is under contract to launch a Space Force mission called “Victus Nox” sometime this summer, and a demonstration missions for NASA under the Venture Class Launch Services contract.

“We have the infrastructure, technologies, systems, and a dedicated team in place to provide on-demand launch services for both government and commercial customers,” said Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace.

Terran Orbital acquires new satellite development facility

Terran Orbital, the parent company of Tyvak and PredaSAR, has leased a new four-story facility in Irvine, California, to house satellite design, engineering and development. Terran Orbital will continue to manufacture satellites at a separate Irvine facility, which the company is expanding to support its “robust pipeline,” according to a Sept. 22 news release. Terran Orbital is growing rapidly, both in terms of its workforce and facilities, due to strong demand from government and commercial customers, Marc Bell, Terran Orbital co-founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. Terran Orbital’s new Irvine facility covers nearly 8,262 square meters. “The new space will significantly increase our operational efficiency and permit us to continue to expand our workforce at a rapidly accelerating pace, while also allowing us to expand our manufacturing capacity at our current location,” Bell said in a statement. One of Tyvak’s recent orders was from Lockheed Martin, a Terran Orbital investor. Lockheed is buying a pair of 12-unit cubesats for LINUSS, short for Lockheed Martin In-space Upgrade Satellite System, to demonstrate satellite servicing in geosynchronous orbit. Tyvak also developed and built the spacecraft bus for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), a satellite destined for the same orbit as the lunar Gateway. CAPSTONE is scheduled to launch later this year on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand.

CAPSTONE, a lunar cubesat developed by Advanced Space for NASA, will launch in the fourth quarter on an Electron rocket from New Zealand, not Virginia as originally planned. Credit: Advanced Space/Tyvak, a Terran Orbital Company

Lockheed Martin and USC build smart cubesats

Lockheed Martin is building mission payloads for a Space Engineering Research Center at University of Southern California (USC) Information Sciences Institute small satellite program called La Jument, which enhance Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) space technologies. For the program, four La Jument nanosatellites - the first launching later this year - will use Lockheed Martin's SmartSat software-defined satellite architecture on both their payload and bus. SmartSat lets satellite operators quickly change missions while in orbit with the simplicity of starting, stopping or uploading new applications. The system is powered by the NVIDIA Jetson platform built on the CUDA-X capable software stack and supported by the NVIDIA JetPack software development kit (SDK), delivering powerful AI at the edge computing capabilities to unlock advanced image and digital signal processing. SmartSat provides on-board cyber threat detection, while the software-defined payload houses advanced optical and infrared cameras utilized by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center (ATC) to further mature and space qualify Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies. The La Jument payloads are the latest of more than 300 payloads Lockheed Martin has built for customers. "La Jument and SmartSat are pushing new boundaries of what is possible in space when you adopt an open software architecture that lets you change missions on the fly," said Adam Johnson, Director of SmartSat and La Jument at Lockheed Martin Space. "We are excited to release a SmartSat software development kit (SDK) to encourage developers to write their own third-party mission apps and offer an orbital test-bed."

Powering Artificial Intelligence at the Edge
La Jument satellites will enable AI/ML algorithms in orbit because of advanced multi-core processing and on-board graphics processing units (GPU). One app being tested in orbit will be SuperRes, an algorithm developed by Lockheed Martin that can automatically enhance the quality of an image, like some smartphone camera apps. SuperRes enables exploitation and detection of imagery produced by lower-cost, lower-quality image sensors.

"We were able to design, build and integrate the first payload for La Jument in five months," said Sonia Phares, Vice President of Engineering and Technology at Lockheed Martin Space. "Satellites like this demonstrate our approach to rapid development and innovation that lets us solve our customers' toughest challenges faster than ever."

Bringing Four Satellites Together
The first of the four La Jument nanosatellites is a student-designed and built 1.5U CubeSat that will be launched with a SmartSat payload to test the complete system from ground to space, including ground station communications links and commanding SmartSat infrastructure while in-orbit. The second is a 3U nanosat, the size of three small milk cartons stacked on top of each other, with optical payloads connected to SmartSat that will allow AI/ML in-orbit testing. Finally, two 6U CubeSats are being designed jointly with USC that will be launched mid-2022. The pair will launch together and incorporate future research from USC and Lockheed Martin, including new SmartSat apps, sensors and bus technologies.

Lockheed Martin has a long history of creating small satellites, having launched more than 150. More recent nanosat projects include Pony Express 1, Linus, NASA's Lun-IR, Janus and Grail. Additionally, Lockheed Martin will be the prime integrator for DARPA's Blackjack small sat constellation.

Lockheed Martin Ships Mobile Communications Satellite To Launch Site

Lockheed Martin shipped its third satellite based on the modernized LM 2100 bus to French Guiana for launch aboard an Ariane V rocket. JCSAT-17 will provide flexible mobile communications services to users in Japan and the surrounding region. Arianespace will launch JCSAT-17 from its spaceport in Kourou. JCSAT-17 is the first Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) communications satellite built on the modernized LM 2100, which includes 26 innovations that make the satellite more powerful, flexible and versatile in orbit. A reprogrammable mission processor adds flexibility as mission needs change. Lockheed Martin is currently manufacturing five modernized LM 2100-based satellites for commercial and government customers. "Following two successful launches of LM 2100 commercial communications satellites, Lockheed Martin is proud to deliver JCSAT-17 to SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (SJC), which will add a tremendous amount of new connectivity for users in Japan," said Guy Beutelschies, Lockheed Martin's Vice President for Communication Satellite Solutions. "This satellite will help grow Japan's advanced economy by adding new options for mobility, bandwidth where it's needed, and reliable connections." The satellite's payload incorporates S-band and C-band transponders with a flexible processor along with 18m mesh reflector, enabling assured communications continuity during high-volume events. The satellite also features robust Ku-band connectivity.

JCSAT-17 is the eighth satellite built by Lockheed Martin for SJC, beginning with NSAT-110, JCSAT-9 through JCSAT-13 and JCSAT-110R.

Lockheed Martin develops world-first LTE-Over-Satellite System

Lockheed Martin has developed a new LTE-over-Satellite system designed to provide connectivity to remote regions, including areas without cellphone coverage, boats off-shore, or during natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, catastrophic floods or volcanoes. New hotspots connect existing phones to satellites for reliable 4G connections. "When disaster strikes, cell phone networks often go down - whether because of the event or because of the sheer volume of traffic," said Maria Demaree, vice president and general manager of Mission Solutions at Lockheed Martin Space. "So, it's important to have new ways to connect families and first responders with people who would be otherwise cut off from contact." Typically, during an emergency that knocks out cellular networks, specialized satellite phones are the only option for mobile connectivity. While satellite phones will still play a key role in disaster recovery, Lockheed Martin's LTE-over-Satellite solution lets people complement satellite phones with their existing commercial phones to connect to a pop-up cellular network that is connected directly to a satellite. The system takes advantage of the fact that 4G devices are now widespread across the world. According to a 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) report, LTE now accounts for more than a third of all mobile subscriptions globally (35.7%). LTE offers broadband data rates in addition to voice and SMS, so important photos, files and commerce can still take place even if traditional communications infrastructure is disrupted.

The new mobility system isn't limited to use during natural disaster or terrorist attacks, it can be potentially used by offshore fisherman located far from cell towers, remote mineral production outposts, scientific and research stations, and in agriculture operations.

Hotspots can be mounted to vehicles, trucks, or ships to provide additional connectivity. For example, with a vehicular-mounted device, LTE-over-satellite connectivity follows a first responder straight to the scene without a separate device. It can be used on cargo trucks to transmit locational data, shipment information and allow vital voice communication to connect with a central dispatcher.

Lockheed Martin begins final assembly on NASA's Orion

Technicians have completed construction on the spacecraft capsule structure that will return astronauts to the Moon, and have successfully shipped the capsule to Florida for final assembly into a full spacecraft. The capsule structure, or pressure vessel, for NASA's Orion Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) spacecraft was welded together over the last seven months by Lockheed Martin technicians and engineers at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. Orion is the world's only exploration-class spaceship, and the EM-2 mission will be its first flight with astronauts on board, taking them farther into the solar system than ever before. "It's great to see the EM-2 capsule arrive just as we are completing the final assembly of the EM-1 crew module," said Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin vice president and program manager for Orion. "We've learned a lot building the previous pressure vessels and spacecraft and the EM-2 spacecraft will be the most capable, cost-effective and efficient one we've built." Orion's pressure vessel is made from seven large, machined aluminum alloy pieces that are welded together to produce a strong, light-weight, air-tight capsule. It was designed specifically to withstand the harsh and demanding environment of deep space travel while keeping the crew safe and productive.

"We're all taking extra care with this build and assembly, knowing that this spaceship is going to take astronauts back to the Moon for the first time in four decades," said Matt Wallo, senior manager of Lockheed Martin Orion Production at Michoud.

"It's amazing to think that, one day soon, the crew will watch the sun rise over the lunar horizon through the windows of this pressure vessel. We're all humbled and proud to be doing our part for the future of exploration."

The capsule was shipped over the road from New Orleans to the Kennedy Space Center, arriving on Friday, Aug. 24. Now in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, Lockheed Martin technicians will immediately start assembly and integration on the EM-2 crew module.

Lockheed's first GPS III satellite shipped to Florida for launch

The first of the U.S. Air Force's new advanced, high power GPS III satellites has shipped to Cape Canaveral for its projected launch in December. The satellite was shipped from Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado to the Cape on August 20 on an Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft, Lockheed Martin announced on Monday. GPS III will have three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities, according to Lockheed. The new L1C civil signal also will make it compatible with other international global navigation satellites. Lockheed has been selected to build the first 10 of satellites for a new GPS constellation. The first in the series is being prepared for its scheduled launch later this year, and the second has been declared ready for launch by Lockheed, though it has not been delivered to the Air Force yet. The third satellite is expected to be ready early next year -- Lockheed reports it has already completed its construction -- and the company has the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh satellites at varying stages of progress. To date, more than 90 percent of parts and materials for all 10 satellites under contract have been received. Lockheed has also submitted a proposal to build up to 22 additional satellites to enhance capabilities to the GPS constellation.

"Once on orbit, the advanced technology of this first GPS III space vehicle will begin playing a major role in the Air Force's plan to modernize the GPS satellite constellation," Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed Martin program manager for Navigation Systems, said in a statement.

"We are excited to start bringing GPS III's new capabilities to the world and proud to continue to serve as a valued partner for the Air Force's positioning, navigation and timing mission systems," Caldwell said.

Thales Alenia Space signs 3 contracts for NASA's deep space exploration

Thales Alenia Space has signed three contracts in the frame of Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) activities with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital-ATK, to develop capabilities that can meet NASA human space exploration objectives while also supporting industry commercialization plans. Based on a public-private partnership model, the next step for human spaceflight is the development of deep space exploration capabilities to expand architectures to support more extensive missions in the proving ground around and beyond cis-lunar space and then towards deep space and, ultimately, Mars. In addition NASA hopes to incorporate modules and parts developed in the NextSTEP project into the follow on Deep Space Gateway and Deep Space Transport projects. An important part of NASA's strategy is to stimulate the commercial space industry while leveraging those same commercial capabilities through partnerships to deliver mission capabilities. In this frame, Thales Alenia Space has collaborated with a couple of the selected US Companies, namely Orbital ATK and Lockheed Martin, since the very beginning of NextSTEP. For NextSTEP-2, a third contract has been added with Boeing.

Thales Alenia Space support to the US partner's activities in NextSTEP is primarily focused on the definition of a key core element of the Cislunar infrastructure, i.e. the Habitat Module, but with potential additional contributions in terms of general deep space gateway architecture and other composing elements, such as a potential airlock. The support will capitalize on the Thales Alenia Space knowledge and heritage acquired in both exploration and space transportation domains.

Thanks to its flight proven know-how and capability accumulated through its strong contribution in the development of the ISS Pressurized Modules (both permanently operative in orbit like the Nodes, or used to support ISS cargo logistic like Cygnus), Thales Alenia Space will provide added values to the US partners by proposing sound and robust design solutions for the new generation exploration modules, where innovation and recent technological steps forwards can be injected as well.

In particular, this support will span from overall module configuration to layout, structures, micro-meteoroid and radiation protection, thermal control and more in general systems aspects (including manufacturing and integration capabilities) essential for the technical definition of such modules and for the setup of development approach and planning able to meet the stringent schedule of the program.

"We are very proud to bring our expertise to cooperate with NASA in expanding the frontiers of knowledge, capability and opportunities in space beyond Low Earth Orbit" - declared Walter Cugno Vice President Domain Exploration and Science Thales Alenia Space - "For Thales Alenia Space, the partnering with US companies in this very exciting adventure is also the culmination of a unique knowhow developed through European banner and now recognized worldwide".

Lockheed Martin and NEC to Enhance Satellites, Space Travel with Artificial Intelligence

Lockheed Martin and NEC Corp have announced that Lockheed Martin will use NEC's System Invariant Analysis Technology (SIAT) in the space domain. SIAT's advanced analytics engine uses data collected from sensors to learn the behavior of systems, including computer systems, power plants, factories and buildings, enabling the system itself to automatically detect inconsistencies and prescribe resolutions. NEC's advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities and Lockheed Martin's space domain expertise offer new opportunities in developing enhanced integrated satellite and spacecraft operations with uniquely developed prescriptive analytics. These include rapid assessments of changes in performance and the space environment, such as the potential influence of space weather on electronics. With this information, operators can improve product performance and lifecycle efficiency. "Lockheed Martin and NEC are experts in space and systems, and that's the right blend to explore how AI can improve space products for astronauts and people on the ground," said Carl Marchetto, vice president of New Ventures at Lockheed Martin Space.

"AI can revolutionize how we use information from space, both in orbit and on deep space missions, including crewed missions to Mars and beyond."

"The innovative SIAT developed by NEC can make valuable contributions to solving the challenges faced by Lockheed Martin in the space field," said Tomoyasu Nishimura, senior vice president, NEC Corporation.

"Going forward, NEC aims to continue strengthening this solution and to globally support safety, security and operational efficiency in a wide variety of fields."

"It is an honor to see NEC's SIAT being used by Lockheed Martin, one of America's leading space innovators," said Masahiro (Mark) Ikeno, president and CEO, NEC Corporation of America.

"We are confident in SIAT's ability to contribute to the reliability, safety and security of Lockheed Martin's developments in the space field."