SpaceX recently signed a five-year contract with the U.S. Air Force for up to $102 million to demonstrate its technology and ability to ship military cargo around the world with heavy rockets.
Founded in June 2002, SpaceX is a well-known private space company focusing on space transportation business.
The contract was awarded on Jan. 14 for a Rocket Cargo program led by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to study the role that large commercial launch vehicles can play in global logistics systems.
In June 2021, AFRL announced that it would designate Rocket Freight as its fourth pioneer program.
Greg Spanjers, project manager for the Rocket Cargo Program, said the contract formally establishes a partnership between the U.S. government and the space transportation industry, and the two parties will work together to figure out what large rockets can achieve when used for cargo transportation, including the true capacity, speed and cost of integrated systems.
To date, this is the most valuable rocket freight contract awarded to the company by the U.S. government.
It is understood that in this contract, AFRL did not specifically indicate which launch vehicle of SpaceX to use, but collected important data related to the environment by applying SpaceX's commercial orbit launch and landing technology.
Figure | SpaceX's Heavy Falcon rocket (Source: SpaceX)
In addition, SpaceX will bring cargo hold designs to AFRL that support fast loading and unloading.
"If suppliers envision fixed point-to-point transport to established sites, we are certainly interested in procuring this commercial service, and the Department of Defense is very interested in all the capabilities to deliver goods anywhere on the planet to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," Spangers said. "
However, most disaster-stricken areas do not have commercial spaceports.
In response, Spangers said, "We are exploring a wider range of new trajectories and landing options for grim locations to mitigate the overflight problem and will study anthropogenic factors when landing near populations, integrating a wider range of goods such as medical supplies." ”
In 2020, the United States Transportation Command (USTC), which oversees global military logistics operations, signed a similar agreement with SpaceX and Exploration&Construction Company XArc called CRADA, also for the Exploration of Space Rapid Transit program.
Under the CRADA agreement, all industry participants are not paid, but voluntarily contribute time and resources to help the U.S. government research space transportation technology and use space as a conceptual use case for transportation.
Stephen Lyons, commander of the USTC, noted that "one of the challenges of military logistics is the tyranny of distance, time and global access, and there is a lot of potential for fast shipping in space." ”
It should be noted that compared with conventional air transport, the size and weight of the rocket will be limited during space transport, and the choice of launch and recovery locations will be more limited.
Lieutenant General Dee Mewbourne, deputy commander of the USTC, believes that "as the industry gradually makes progress in these challenges and cost reductions, space transportation can quickly deliver critical cargo to targets over considerable distances and become an attractive option." ”
In December 2021, Blue Origin also joined as the third company to sign a CRADA agreement with USTC.
Mayborne said space transport is not a necessary logistical support for all operations, but when it comes to reacting quickly or to get into challenging environments, space transport makes for a practical choice, not just a concept. We need to understand the potential of space transport to keep up with the technology and operational realities that are now evolving and changing.
Blue Origin reusable boosters and space capsules that deploy parachutes to space tourists are among the technologies needed to make point-to-point cargo deliveries.
Blue Origin now operates a reusable space tourism launch vehicle, new Shepard, and is developing the next generation of reusable heavy orbital launch vehicles, called New Glenn, which is expected to debut in late 2022.
Figure | "New Shepard" Booster (Source: Blue Origin)
In fact, SpaceX's partnership with the U.S. Air Force is not the first time the company has demonstrated the possibility of helping transport military cargo.
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, said at a defense industry conference that the company is discussing with the Army the use of Starship vehicles for point-to-point transportation around Earth, as well as exploring the possibility of completing cargo deliveries in minutes.
In the future, SpaceX will also work with the U.S. Air Force to try to use multimodal containers that are compatible with the rest of the cargo transportation methods, although the exact time has not yet been announced.
Spangers said they had never attempted to carry a large amount of heavy loads from space orbit before, because the approach placed more emphasis on commercial thermal protection systems, landing propulsion systems and landing legs.
Over time, the U.S. Air Force will also include more companies in its rocket cargo program. Spangers said, "We will continue to negotiate with other launch vehicle suppliers and consider awarding them contracts later in the program." ”
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reference:
https://spacenews.com/spacex-wins-102-million-air-force-contract-to-demonstrate-technologies-for-point-to-point-space-transportation/
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2646703/department-of-the-air-force-announces-fourth-vanguard-program/