On November 10, the Space and Missile Command posted a request for information (RFI) to support National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Program Planning. The RFI will be conducted in three rounds. Responses to round 1 are due no later than 10:00 a.m. Pacific on November 24.
The U.S. commercial launch industry is vital to providing our Nation’s warfighters and intelligence community with space-based capabilities. Given the rapidly increasing threat from our nation’s adversaries, the United States Space Force (USSF) is focused on ensuring our National space capabilities retain their technological advantage and maintain U.S. superiority in the space domain. To that end the USSF is considering establishing a Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) program to accelerate the development of transformational commercial space access, mobility, and logistics technologies that can be on-ramped when available. This RDT&E program will play a significant role in the shaping of the next NSSL launch service procurement strategy which will strive to incentivize and leverage industry innovation.
The objective of the NSSL RDT&E program is two-fold: establish a comprehensive effort to accelerate the development of transformational technologies, and to rapidly on-ramp these technologies to enhance our nation’s space access, mobility, and logistics capabilities. Therefore, the Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Enterprise (SMC/ECL) is investigating innovative acquisition strategies to enable more flexibility in future NSSL acquisitions.
SMC/ECL is requesting information to develop a smart RDT&E strategy that meets existing NSSL requirements and enables future space access, mobility, and logistics capabilities that will support agile operations into, through, and from space. SMC/ECL is in the planning stages of this program and is considering RDT&E investments in technologies that can be implemented within the next three to five years as well as more revolutionary future capabilities which can be realized over the next decade and beyond.
Full information is available here.
Source: SAM
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