DoD + SpaceX Jumpstart Their Relationship

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., otherwise known as SpaceX, announced it has signed a contract with the Department of Defense’s Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office to carry their first Jumpstart mission payload onboard the upcoming Falcon 1 launch. Scheduled for flight in June 2008 from the SpaceX launch complex in the Central Pacific Marshall Islands’ Kwajalein Atoll, the Jumpstart mission aims to establish a preliminary framework for responsive contracting. It will also demo the ability to rapidly integrate and execute a mission, from initial call-up to launch. The demo will encompass three separate candidate OSR payloads. The actual flight payload will be determined by the ORS Office at, or before, the SpaceX Flight Readiness Review for the Falcon 1 Flight 003 (F1-003) vehicle, which typically occurs two weeks before launch.

The list of candidate payloads already under development includes the following:

• Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Plug and Play (PnP) satellite bus—a 3rdgen bus with multiple integrated payloads, that, when flown, would be a risk reduction to future ORS missions
• SpaceDev, Inc. Trailblazer spacecraft bus, originally developed under a Missile Defense Agency contract, which demonstrates a flexible, modular commercial bus design using off the shelf components
• Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)/AFRL NanoSat-4, CUSat—Space Test Program experiment consisting of two nanosatellites developed by Cornell University in partnership with the AFRL under the University Nanosatellite Program

In addition to the ORS primary payload, Flight 003 will also carry a rideshare adapter experiment for ATSB of Malaysia (the primary customer for the following Falcon 1 launch, F1-004), and two CubeSat payloads—Hawthorne, California