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Team of mostly small aerospace companies wins USSF mission development contract

Aug. 16, 2022

U.S. Space Force (USSF) has awarded Orion Space Solutions a contract to develop three spacecraft in support of USSF's mission to advance and launch new technologies in space.

Working with partners Hera Systems, Inc. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., and SCOUT Space Inc., Orion Space Solutions (OSS) brings together a diversified, highly capable team to build and deploy new satellites to geostationary orbit (GEO). Satellites in GEO orbits fly at a height where the satellite's orbital period equals the Earth's rotational speed. This allows a satellite to "sit" in space, viewing a single location on the Earth over time.

Team of mostly small aerospace companies wins USSF mission development contract

"The OSS team looks forward to supporting USSF," says Chad Fish, the project's principal investigator and COO of Orion Space Solutions. "The team, comprised largely of small, non-traditional aerospace businesses, demonstrates the depth of skill, as well as agility and innovation that small business delivers to U.S. government programs and more broadly within the aerospace industry." 

The OSS team offers deep experience in building mission-specific systems, including spacecraft and payload design, assembly, integration, and testing capabilities, as well as mission operations and ground support.

The OSS Team's small satellites – for this mission, about the size of two carry-on bags – offers the USSF a "New Space" agile, lower-cost access to space mission solution. End to end, USSF anticipates a 5-year development and mission for the program in support of its Tetra-5 Space Vision program.