Space Force’s dependence on Elon Musk has just become a little more critical mission

Regarding commercial launch providers, the American space force clearly has a favorite. Friday, the military branch awarded the majority of its next national security missions to SpaceX, while Blue Origin has been delayed pending the conclusion of a Rocket certification process.

The Force space has awarded contracts to SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) worth more than a billion dollars as part of its National Security Space (NSSL) program. SpaceX won five of the seven military missions, worth $ 714 million, while Ula will launch the other two, at a price of $ 428 million. Blue Origin, another featured competitor, was not eligible to receive missions this time while the company awaits its new Glenn rocket to become certified.

Ready, define, launch

Earlier in April, the Space Force spatial system command announced three companies, SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin, as the recipients of its first series of awards for NSSL. The program, intended to obtain launch service providers for military missions, includes a total of 54 missions which should be launched between 2027 and 2032.

The first batch of missions is planned for the launch until 2029. Although the majority of the useful charges on the missions remain classified, the space force has revealed some strengths of the upcoming launches. The newly allocated SPACEX missions include the launch of the 12th Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite Communications, a satellite for National Recognition Office (NRO), as well as three non -disclosed useful charges. ULA’s future missions include the launch of a GPS satellite, as well as another NRO payload.

SpaceX is one of the main spatial force launch providers, having launched more than a dozen of its useful charges in recent years. Before Elon Musk’s space company arrived on the stage, Ula was the main supplier to launch national security missions using its Atlas V, Delta VI Heavy and Vulcan rockets.

Blue Origin, on the other hand, is relatively new in the game. After several delays, the new Glenn rocket of the company finally took off on January 16. Its inaugural launch was not a total success; The rocket reached the orbit, but its booster was lost during the attempt at recovery landing in the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, the rocket is not yet certified to launch the useful loads of the spatial force until it finishes two successful orbital flights.

New Glenn is expected to launch the mission of NASA (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) later this fall. If everything is going well, the company will finally be eligible to enter the race for the NSSL launches during the next round in 2027.

SpaceX should receive more than half of the 54 missions in total, while the ULA should launch approximately 19 of the remaining missions. Blue Origin, awaiting its certification, can launch up to seven missions.