Pentagon buyer: We’re satisfied with our launch industry, but payloads are falling behind

DALLAS—The Space Force official responsible for directing more than $24 billion in research and development funding says the Pentagon prefers backing startups that build new space sensors and payloads over adding another rocket company to its lineup.

Spoken at a space finance conference in Dallas last week, the remark was one of several messages Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy aimed to deliver to a room of investors and commercial space executives.

Purdy also stressed that the Space Force favors high-volume production rather than pouring money into developing the newest technologies, and that the military has, at least for now, lost a key tool for supporting and diversifying the space industrial base.

Talk of favoring payloads over launchers reflects the Space Force’s recent pattern of backing small startups. Since 2020, SpaceWERX, the Space Force’s commercial innovation program, has awarded 23 funding agreements—known as Strategic Funding Increases (STRATFIs)—to commercial space startups working on new sensors, software, satellite components, spacecraft buses, and orbital transfer vehicles. SpaceWERX issued only one STRATFI to a launch company—ABL Space Systems—and that company has since exited the space launch market.

“We’re on track for mass-produced launch,” said Purdy, the military deputy for space acquisition in the Department of the Air Force. “Our ranges are arranged so we can do mass-produced launch. We’ve built our data centers and data architecture for mass production. We’ve got AI components that are mass-produced, satellite buses are nearly there, and our payloads are the remaining piece. Payloads that are affordable at scale are the critical element.”

K2’s Gravitas satellite, scheduled for launch next month, will evaluate the company’s Hall-effect thruster, solar arrays, and other systems.

Credit:
K2

Investing the funds

Purdy told Ars after his talk that payloads are “the last frontier” for scaling space missions. “The goal is to get missions out the door as fast as possible. Two to three years is too slow. We’ve got to shrink that to one week. I’m not talking about super exquisite [payloads]. Those aren’t most of our missions. The commercial industry, your Kuipers [Amazon LEO], your Starlinks, have largely solved the comm piece, but we’re still struggling in many other areas.”