ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Space Force plans to make use of a “plug and play” satellite tv for pc interface developed by The Aerospace Corporation for an upcoming mission underneath its Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program. The program seeks to validate applied sciences and ways to shorten the timeline for launching payloads, equivalent to surveillance sensors, into orbit.
Col. Bryon McClain, program government officer on the Space Systems Command, stated Dec. 11 the navy is in search of extra standardized satellite tv for pc designs and plans to check a modular interface system known as Handle, developed by The Aerospace Corporation, in a future TacRS mission.
Handle is a standardized electrical interface designed to combine satellite tv for pc payloads seamlessly right into a standardized modular structure, which simplifies the mixing of payloads onto satellite tv for pc platforms. The expertise was beforehand demonstrated throughout Aerospace’s Slingshot 1 mission in July 2022, and the Space Force’s Space Safari workplace plans to include it into the upcoming Victus Salo mission.
Speaking on the Spacepower Conference, McClain stated extra flexibility and velocity is required in satellite tv for pc improvement. Traditional satellite tv for pc improvement timelines are too gradual to fulfill trendy threats, he stated. “The entire thought behind the TacRS program is to construct an acquisition tradition that may transfer sooner than adversaries,” he stated.
Under a responsive area mission, the U.S. navy would launch a surveillance satellite tv for pc to shortly examine a suspected anti-satellite weapon or different objects believed to pose a possible menace to U.S. spacecraft.
A extra standardized design
The Handle interface might be a technique to assist speed up the mixing of satellites, providing a “plug-and-play” resolution that might allow sooner satellite tv for pc meeting and launch preparation, he stated. The Space Force is inquisitive about standardized platforms that help a wide range of payloads — whether or not commercially developed or military-specific — with out requiring in depth customization.
“The way forward for reasonably priced area is the place there’s a capability to have totally different payloads and extra widespread bus interfaces,” McClain famous.
Victus Salo, slated for a fall 2026 launch, is one in every of a number of missions underneath the TacRS initiative that seeks to exhibit the Space Force’s capability for rapid-response launches and enhanced area area consciousness.
Victus Salo will likely be deployed into low Earth Orbit (LEO) utilizing SpaceX’s rideshare program and can carry a government-provided payload developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory.
McClain described Victus Salo as an “preliminary studying state” for integrating modular architectures into responsive area missions. “This shouldn’t be the top state. This is the preliminary studying state, pulling among the threads on the flexibility to trade information, and understanding what is smart,” he stated.
The Space Safari workplace awarded a $34.5 million contract to Impulse Space to produce launch companies and orbital maneuver autos for each Victus Salo and one other mission known as Victus Surgo that can launch a commercially developed payload. These firm’s autos will present the propulsion and mobility wanted to place satellites quickly in response to occasions.
