SpaceDev has been awarded Phase I of a contract to develop a Shuttle-compatible propulsion module for the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). SpaceDev also expects to receive an award for Phase II of the contract and will use the project to further expand the company’s product line to satisfy commercial and government space transportation requirements. The first two phases of the contract are worth up to $1.6 Million. Total contract value is open-ended.
The contract was a result of the critical need to develop an innovative, low-cost propulsion capability that simultaneously addresses NASA Shuttle Hitchhiker Experiment Launch System (SHELS) safety requirements and the Air Force Space Test Program (STP) orbit transfer propulsion performance requirements.
“Due to current technology limitations, no payload has ever been propulsively boosted to other orbits when deployed from SHELS, because existing propulsion technologies do not meet Shuttle safety or STP performance requirements,” said Ken Hampsten, program manager for the AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate contract with SpaceDev.
SpaceDev’s previous work for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on SpaceDev’s Secondary Payload Orbital Transfer Vehicle (SPOTV) and its orbital Maneuver and Transfer Vehicle (MTV), combined with this new project for the AFRL, will give SpaceDev important and unique capabilities in the area of placing, inspecting and protecting space-based assets.
The SpaceDev MTV was designed to provide on-orbit maneuvering and orbit transfers of customer microsatellites and payloads launched from expendable launch vehicles.
“Successful completion of the AFRL project will give SpaceDev additional capabilities to deliver customer payloads to their desired orbits. This capability will result in a SpaceDev platform from which our customers can inspect and protect their own and United States space-based assets, or to get up close and personal with potentially unfriendly space assets,” said Jim Benson, chief executive officer of SpaceDev.
