“BREAKING DEFENSE”
“The new Space Systems Command’s first funded efforts to better integrate commercial companies into its vendor pool will be focused on space domain awareness and “cloud enabled space enterprises.
Open Topics allow teams of small businesses and researchers to propose technologies to the services that have not been included in a specific Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer solicitation.”
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“The commercial space sector is driving the market, and Space Systems commanders are eager to facilitate these companies and bring their unique solutions into our programs of record,” Joy White, the SSC’s executive director. told an audience virtually attending the SpaceWERX innovation hub’s first pitch day — a show and tell for small firms seeking service funds. "SpaceWERX will announce the winners of today’s pitch day this evening at 6 pm est; watch for our coverage tomorrow."
The event was a milestone of sorts for both organizations. SSC officially stood up at Los Angeles AFB on Aug. 13 under the command of Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, and is responsible (like SMC before it) for developing, acquiring and fielding space capabilities for the Space Force. SpaceWERX, which is a subcomponent of the the Air Force’s AFWERX hub run by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), was initiated last last year, and officially stood up today.
Joy explained that the Space Vision 2030 plan crafted last year is designed to “help mature early stage technologies by allocating money to continual technology development within specific areas that we’ve identified as being particularly urgent.” Under that plan, SSC is engaging on a regular basis with commercial companies part of the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC).
SpEC, founded in 2017, uses Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracts to award research and development money to its members, which are in essence pre-vetted to qualify for DoD funds. In January, after some controversy, Space Force awarded the management contract for SpEC to National Security Technology Accelerator.
In addition, AFWERX this fall “will jumpstart key SpaceWERX initiatives by offering a Phase I Open Topic Small Business Technology Transfer solicitation focused on space technologies,” according to an Aug. 11 press release.
Open Topics allow teams of small businesses and researchers to propose technologies to the services that have not been included in a specific Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer solicitation.
Another SpaceWERX initiative is Space Prime, also modeled on past AFWERX practices, which will choose a breakthrough commercial technology sector that has potential value for the military and make targeted investments.
The first AFWERX Prime program was Agility Prime, designed to spur the market for so-called flying cars, i.e. electronic vertical take-off and landing vehicles.
The goal of the planned SpaceWERX Prime programs is to reach initial operating capability for a new system “within two to four years,” said Lt. Col. Walter McMillan, SpaceWERX director, in the press release.
SpaceWERX has already done a de facto “market survey” that has “really helped us understand what is the commercial sector doing right now in space,” he said during today’s event.
“Some of the markets that really are interesting to us have to do with things like data movement in space — higher bandwidth data movement from the space sector, within the space sector, and between the sector and terrestrial market,” McMillan explained.
“Another element is, ‘what are we doing in space that might help logistics?’ as we see more proliferation of things in that space sector, as more companies enter in to the space sector and we see more assets being flown in space,” he added. Space Force may require a better understanding of how logistics might work, how such systems could be “serviced” on-orbit, and to “enable those assets to continue operation for the future and how you deconflict assets as they’re working in the orbital space.”
AFRL and DoD space research leaders have previously expressed interest in ideas such as rocket fuel stations based in deep space, with the Defense Innovation Unit last July issuing a contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. to test such capabilities.
AFRL will be showcasing its space efforts, and introducing vendors to SpaceWERX, at the Space Foundation’s annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs next week, according to an AFRL release.”
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