The U.S. House Drive on Friday introduced it should assign 5 of seven essential navy missions for the approaching fiscal 12 months to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The awards are a $714 million boon to SpaceX, underscoring the corporate’s continued dominance over Pentagon house contracts, regardless of Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump’s public falling out earlier this 12 months.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) will undertake the 2 different launches; it was awarded $428 million for 2 launches, in response to a press launch considered by Space News.
SpaceX pulls forward on Pentagon launches
The awards are made below the Nationwide Safety House Launch Program, which earlier this 12 months chosen SpaceX, ULA, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for 54 missions scheduled between fiscal 2027 and 2032 as a part of its Nationwide Safety House Launch Program (NSSL)—contracts price $13.5 billion.
“House is the last word excessive floor, essential for our nationwide safety,” stated U.S. House System Command official Col. Eric Zarybnisky in a launch, per Air Space and Forces.
“We proceed to guarantee entry to that prime floor. Delivering property to the warfighter is our final mission, and we depend on our sturdy government-industry partnerships … to efficiently obtain that purpose,” Zarybnisky stated. Quick Firm has reached out to the House Drive for remark.
The missions assigned to SpaceX embody launches for a communication satellite tv for pc, three categorised payloads, and a reconnaissance satellite tv for pc. The House Drive makes its awards two years prematurely, so these launches will doubtless take off in 2027.
Blue Origin pushes for Mars mission
The awards additionally underlined the truth that Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket—the corporate’s rival to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy—has but to be licensed for nationwide safety launches. “No missions have been assigned to the third supplier, Blue Origin, which has its subsequent alternative for a mission in FY27,” House Techniques Command stated in a press release, per SpaceNews.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn is slated to launch a NASA mission to Mars as soon as the end of this month—delayed since 2024—that might convey it nearer to receiving certification, nonetheless.
