US Space Force approves $32 million contract for prototype space-based sensor

News, US December 27, 2021 , by IRIA No Comments

The United States Space Force has awarded GEOST a contract to modify the prototype space domain awareness payloads on December 24.

A $32 million contract includes modification of payloads that would be hosted on many different satellites to scan the geostationary zone over 22,000 miles above the earth. It would also help protect the United States and its allies’ satellites from Chinese and Russian spacecraft.

The latest contract modification, which brings the total value of GEOST’s contract to $39 million, is part of the Space Force’s efforts to host low-cost and small sensors on many of the U.S. and its international partners’ satellites in the geostationary belt. The project is also expected to enhance the allies’ understanding of the space.

Under the contract, GEOST will complete the construction of a prototype sensor that will monitor objects in geosynchronous orbit. These sensors will be connected to the satellites of the United States and its allies.

Earlier in November 2020, the company was awarded a $6 million contract and another $32 million contract in December 2021. These contracts included ground infrastructure, sensor design and development, technical support, and integration with the host platform and launch vehicles.

According to Vice President and General Manager of GEOST, Joshua Hartman, the actual payload is less than $10 million, which is the key price point at which the Space Force believes that these payloads can be deployed on a large scale.

Hartman stated that the company’s payload will be ready for launch in the year 2023. Although the Space Force has not determined the host satellite, it plans to build sensors that can provide space domain awareness on almost any U.S. or allied government as well as commercial satellite.

GEOST vice president said, “Space Systems Command is trying to gauge the industry’s ability to produce at least three to four, or perhaps more, sensors per year,” said Hartman. “After the GEOST payload launches in 2023 and demonstrates its capabilities, the company is hopeful to get a production contract,” Hartman added.

For many years, the Space Force has been committed to placing space domain awareness payloads on satellites, and in 2020, the U.S. signed an agreement with Japan to place sensor payloads on the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, a satellite navigation system being developed by the country. The U.S. Space Force also intends to carry its communications payloads on Norwegian satellites.

After the development of these sensors, the U.S. Space Force officials on the ground would be alerted and be able to relocate its satellites, if Russian or Chinese spacecraft fly too close.

The hosted payload will also enhance the Space Surveillance Network, which includes a combination of traditional radars, phased-array radars, and ground-based telescopes, and two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program electro-optical sensor satellites that are operating in near-geosynchronous belts.

GEOST is a private equity firm that has been acquired by ATL Partners earlier this year in August. The company supplies space surveillance sensors to the United States military and intelligence agencies.