According to reports by the US Space Force’s Space Systems Command, SpaceX has prevailed in all the contracts for launches under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program. The announcement that came out on Friday states that NSSL has ordered all eight launches of the first batch of their new mission from SpaceX. Reports suggest that the launches will be bought in a new phase of competition designed for lucrative national security launch contracts.
The contract with an estimated worth of $733.5 million includes eight launches divided into two fixed-price task orders. The task orders were open for bids earlier this year, in which multiple agencies took part. The first task order includes seven launches of groups of spacecraft. These launches are part of the Space Development Agency’s plan to create a network of satellites that can track missiles and relay data. The other task order is part of a single mission designed for the National Reconnaissance Office, the spy satellite agency under the US government.
The NSSL has designed the Phase 3 Lane 1 contract as an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, where the procurement method is flexible. Although SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) were the two eligible bidders according to the parameters of the competition, the contract included other agencies like Blue Origin as the primary vendors, who had to compete in individual tasks.
From the two eligible bidders, SpaceX won both the task orders in the lane which is estimated at $733.5 million and approximately $91.7 million per mission. Furthermore, SpaceX’s orders announced on Friday are the first awarded missions in Phase 3 Lane 1 of the project. With an approximate estimate of $5.6 billion for Lane 1 that will be spanned over five years, the officials comment that all the SpaceX missions will be launched towards the latter half of 2025 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
The announcement on the task orders was made by Lt. Col. Douglas Downs, the material leader of Space Systems Command’s space launch procurement team. In the announcement, he mentioned that he was happy and excited to launch the NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 with two orders that support NRO and SDA missions.
According to reports, the complete mission requires medium-lift rockets with high-rate launch cadence. These rockets need to match the capability of larger launch vehicles. As mentioned, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets were also selected by the military for Lane 1 earlier this June. however, it was not included in the announcement made on Friday as these rockets have to complete at least an orbital launch to qualify. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets will take their test flight sometime this year. However, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and ULA’s Vulcan rockets qualified for the tests. However, it was SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets that prevailed by winning all eight missions of Lane 1.
NSSL mentions that the next levels of the program will cover more challenging military missions for more expensive payloads for higher orbits. The Space Force is planning to launch these missions soon. However, the Lane 2 launches will require certifications by the Space Force.
Military officials are planning to add more vendors and companies to the remaining pools of Lane 1. Some of the expected companies are Rocket Lab, Firefly Aerospace, Relativity Space, and Stoke Space. As this lane is focused on commercial missions with more accepted risks, newer companies will gain a platform where they can offer low-cost solutions even without proven records.
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