A mass simulator version of a New Glenn rocket will be transported for testing in November 2021.
Blue origin
The Pentagon announced the first winners of its rocket launch contract sweepstakes on Thursday, with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin securing a spot for the first time.
Blue Origin’s winning bid came under contracts awarded as part of the Pentagon’s $5.6 billion National Security Space Launch program.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance – also known as ULA, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin And Boeing – also received contracts under the multi-year third phase of the NSSL program.
Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment.
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Under the program, known as NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1, the three companies can compete for contracts until mid-2029.
ULA and SpaceX were already competing for contracts under the previous Phase 2 edition of NSSL: In total, the military awarded ULA Phase 2 launch contracts with 26 missions worth $3.1 billion over the course of five years, during SpaceX received 22 missions worth $2.5 billion.
Blue Origin, as well Northrop Grummanmissed Phase 2 when the Pentagon selected ULA and SpaceX for the program in August 2020.
A Falcon Heavy rocket launches the USSF-67 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jan. 15, 2023.
SpaceX
But with Phase 3, the U.S. military is raising the stakes — and expanding the field — in a high-profile competition for Space Force mission contracts. There are expected to be a total of 90 rocket launch orders in Phase 3, with the Lane 1 and Lane 2 categories split to allow even more companies to submit bids.
Space Force outlined a “mutual fund” strategy for purchasing launch vehicles from companies in Phase 3: The military department divided the program into two lanes, so that one includes three companies that perform the most demanding and expensive missions, and the other
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2024-06-14 11:37:37
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