Blackjack
Mr. Stephen Forbes
Blackjack
National Security Space (NSS) assets, critical to U.S. warfighting capabilities, traditionally reside in geosynchronous orbit to deliver persistent overhead access to any point on the globe. In the increasingly contested space environment, these exquisite, costly, and monolithic systems have become vulnerable targets that would take years to replace if degraded or destroyed. DARPA’s Blackjack program aims to develop and demonstrate the critical elements for a global high-speed network in low Earth orbit (LEO) that provides the Department of Defense with highly connected, resilient, and persistent coverage.
Blackjack seeks to incorporate commercial sector advances in LEO, including design of LEO constellations intended for broadband internet service, of which the design and manufacturing could offer economies of scale previously unavailable. DARPA is interested in capitalizing on these advances to demonstrate military utility, emphasizing a commoditized bus and low-cost interchangeable payloads with short design cycles and frequent technology upgrades.
The key program objectives are:
• Develop payload and mission-level autonomy software and demonstrate autonomous orbital operations including on-orbit distributed decision processors.
• Develop and implement advanced commercial manufacturing for military payloads and the spacecraft bus.
• Demonstrate payloads in LEO to augment NSS assets. The driver will be to show LEO performance that is on par with current systems in geosynchronous orbit with the spacecraft combined bus, payload(s), and launch costs under $6 million per orbital node while the payloads meet size, weight, and power constraints of the commercial bus.
source:
https://www.darpa.mil/program/blackjack
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DARPA is about to launch a military version of SpaceX’s Starlink
Blackjack Network
DARPA, the research wing of the U.S. Military, is preparing to launch an orbital mesh network similar to SpaceX’s Starlink.
The first satellite for the Blackjack network will launch later this year, C4ISRNET reports. While there’s still lots of testing, simulation, and launching to be done before Blackjack is complete, the move could be an important first step toward a new global military communication network.
First Of Many
Like the Starlink network, Blackjack will ultimately become a constellation of low-orbit satellites that blanket the globe.
“Blackjack seeks to develop and validate critical elements of global high-speed autonomous networks in [Low Earth Orbit],” reads a DARPA statement provided to C4ISRNET, “proving a capability that could provide the Department of Defense with highly connected, resilient, and persistent overhead coverage.”
Planning Ahead
The upcoming launch of the satellite Mandrake 1, as well as the next three launches planned for 2021, will serve as prototype demonstrations for some of the technological capabilities expected of a complete Blackjack network. Those include as supercomputer processing, communication with tactical radios, and inter-satellite communication.
“It’s important that we get the design right,” Blackjack Program Manager Paul Thomas told C4ISRNET. “We focused first on buses and payloads, then the autonomous mission management system, which we call Pit Boss. We anticipate we’ll begin integrating the first two military payloads next summer with launch via rideshare in late 2021, followed by the remainder of the Blackjack demonstration sub-constellation in 2022.”
source:
https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/geopolitics/darpa-is-about-to-launch-a-military-version-of-spacex-s-starlink/
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DARPA is launching its own low-orbit internet network akin to SpaceX's Starlink
Blackjack could provide the U.S. military with persistent, global internet service.
Tom Maxwell
5.13.2020 12:00 PM
DARPA is sending the first satellite of its Blackjack network into orbit later this year. Blackjack is intended to eventually offer the U.S. military a persistent global communications network by blanketing the globe with low-Earth orbit satellites that can quickly transmit data between one another using optical lasers.
Blackjack is just an experimental project for now — DARPA is, after all, the research wing of the U.S. military. But the technology could someday offer the type of global internet access that Elon Musk's SpaceX is trying to introduce with Starlink. DARPA hopes to launch three additional satellites in 2021 so that it can demonstrate what it would be like to have a functioning communications network in space.
SpaceX is hoping to get permission to send up to 42,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit to form its network, and has already deployed 422 as of late April. The company has faced criticism from scientists who are concerned that a large amount of new satellites in space will interfere with radio communications and make it difficult for astronomers to identify constellations of stars amid the "congestion." SpaceX hopes to roll out its Starlink internet service more or less globally by 2021.
Why do we need space internet? — DARPA's entry into the field is noteworthy because the internet as we know it today began as a military research project intended for transmitting time-sensitive communications as quickly and efficiently as possible.
By creating a network in the stars, DARPA believes communication will be more resilient, because it will be harder to attack the physical infrastructure, and the network will be accessible even from the furthest reaches of Earth where today internet access is scarce due to infrastructure needs — think underserved rural areas, the open ocean, etc. Government backing for such a network could accelerate efforts if it's found to be effective — the U.S. government doesn't exactly spare expenses when it comes to military projects.
This isn't like existing satellite internet — Starlink has promised that its own network will offer speeds up to 1 gigabyte per second, comparable to today's fastest broadband networks. The company says it will also have latency as low as 15 milliseconds. The big innovation enabling such a possibility is communication between satellites via lasers, which can send data between one another at effectively the speed of light. Existing satellite internet services are also slow because they use satellites that are further away from the Earth's surface than SpaceX's will be.
Internet satellite networks haven't been placed in low-Earth orbit traditionally because they pose more danger and therefore have to be constantly monitored. Both DARPA and SpaceX are developing autonomous routing systems for their networks to ensure the satellites are properly spaced out and don't collide with other objects.
source:
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https%253A//www.inputmag.com/tech/darpa-is-launching-its-own-low-orbit-mesh-network-akin-to-spacexs-starlink
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DARPA set to launch first Blackjack satellite later this year
Nathan Strout
May 12, 2020
The technology demonstration satellites will pave the way for the Space Development Agency to build an on orbit mesh network. (DARPA)
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will launch its first Blackjack satellite into orbit later this year, with more to follow in 2021.
With Blackjack, DARPA seeks to demonstrate the value of low earth orbit satellites for the Department of Defense. The small satellites will carry advanced technologies that will demonstrate space-based mesh networks and constellation autonomy.
“Blackjack seeks to develop and validate critical elements of global high-speed autonomous networks in LEO, proving a capability that could provide the Department of Defense with highly connected, resilient, and persistent overhead coverage,” the agency said in a May 11 statement.
[Image: With its first 10 satellites, the Space Development Agency wants to build a space-based mesh network that will ultimately enable on-orbit sensors to pass data to shooters in near-real time. (Jumpeestudio/Getty Images)]
Here’s what the Space Development Agency wants from its first 10 satellites
With the transport layer, the Space Development Agency wants to build a space-based mesh network that will ultimately enable on-orbit sensors to pass data to shooters in near-real time.
Nathan Strout
May 5, 2020
The first experimental satellite will be Mandrake 1, a cubesat hosting supercomputer processing chips. Mandrake 2 will use two cubesats to demonstrate the possibility of a space-based mesh network by sharing data over optical intersatellite links. Wildcard, another payload, will experiment with links to tactical radios from orbit over a software-defined radio. A fourth unnamed experiment will host a number of advanced thirty party algorithms to test out on orbit.
“It's important that we get the design right,” said Blackjack Program Manager Paul “Rusty” Thomas. “We focused first on buses and payloads, then the autonomous mission management system, which we call Pit Boss. We anticipate we'll begin integrating the first two military payloads next summer with launch via rideshare in late 2021, followed by the remainder of the Blackjack demonstration sub-constellation in 2022.”
The agency says it is evaluating buses from Airbus, Blue Canyon Technologies and Telesat, all of which have progressed through preliminary design review. A final bus selection will be made in 2020.
SEAKR recently announced that it had been selected as the primary contractor for Pit Boss, the autonomous system behind Blackjack. Lockheed Martin will integrate the satellites.
DARPA is also looking at various payloads to be incorporated into the Blackjack constellation. Contenders include an overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) sensor from Collins Aerospace and Raytheon, radio frequency systems from Northrop Grumman, Trident and Systems and Technology Research, a position, navigation, and timing payload from Northrop Grumman, optical inter-satellite links from SA Photonics, and an electro-optical/infrared sensor from L3Harris.
Over the next few months the agency will begin running simulations with the various payloads.
“We need to show the constellations can move the right amount of data and support the data fusion and command and control we want from Pit Boss,” Thomas said. “From there, we will start building the actual hardware. By late next spring, we will have hardware and then spend next summer focused on satellite-level qualification for launch readiness in late 2021.”
The demonstration flights will be conducted in partnership with the U.S. Space Force and the Space Development Agency, an organization stood up in March 2019 to develop a new national security space architecture composed of hundreds of satellites in low earth orbit. SDA leadership has stated previously that it will build off the lessons learned from Blackjack.
All of the flights will be rideshares.
source:
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https%253A//www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/12/darpa-set-to-launch-first-blackjack-satellite-later-this-year/
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SEAKR, SSCI Plan Risk Reduction Demo Flights for DARPA’s Blackjack Satellite Program
Nichols Martin June 17, 2020 News, Technology
[Image: ExecutiveBiz - SEAKR, SSCI Plan Risk Reduction Demo Flights for DARPA's Blackjack Satellite Program]
SEAKR Engineering and Scientific Systems Company Inc. have begun to prepare for risk reduction demonstration flights under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program that explores potential satellite technology advancements in low-Earth orbit.
The two companies aim to demonstrate components of the Pit Boss autonomous mission management system
Raytheon Technologies is co-developing for DARPA's planned Blackjack satellite constellation, SSCI said Tuesday.
SSCI and SEAKR plan to conduct three flight tests via rideshare missions later this year before a couple of satellites lift off in 2021.
The first two demonstrations, dubbed Mandrake, will aim to verify the performance of computing, ground software, constellation autonomy, processing and intersatellite link systems needed for Blackjack and Pit Boss to facilitate the constellation's autonomous enterprise operations.
Mandrake I will focus on Pit Boss hardware and Mandrake II will test laser-based, inter-satellite communications in collaboration with the Space Development Agency.
The third test, nicknamed Sagittarius-A, will showcase a battle management command, control and communications system in orbit and apply technologies from Raytheon BBN, Emergent Space Technologies, LeafLabs, Kitware, Innoflight, Orbit Logic and HawkEye360.
The Blackjack program's key objectives are to develop payload and software for autonomous orbital operations, implement advanced manufacturing approaches for military spacecraft bus and demonstrate LEO payloads designed to support national security space assets.
source:
https://blog.executivebiz.com/2020/06/seakr-ssci-plan-risk-reduction-demo-flights-for-darpas-blackjack-satellite-program/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://blog.executivebiz.com/2020/06/seakr-ssci-plan-risk-reduction-demo-flights-for-darpas-blackjack-satellite-program/
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DARPA Pit Boss Contractors SEAKR and SSCI Team with DARPA for Blackjack Early Risk Reduction Orbital Flights
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Scientific Systems Company Inc.
Jun 16, 2020, 09:00 ET
SSCI is a provider of artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous software systems for land, sea, air, and space systems, GPS-denied navigation systems, and mission planning systems
WOBURN, Mass., June 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- DARPA Blackjack program prime contractors SEAKR Engineering and Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI) are preparing to use a series of small satellite demonstrations in an effort to verify and validate critical elements of the Blackjack program. In partnership with the U.S. Space Force, DARPA's Blackjack program has an objective to ultimately launch and test a constellation of up to 20 small satellites to demonstrate critical elements of global high-speed autonomous satellite networks in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), proving a capability that could provide the Department of Defense with highly connected, resilient, and persistent overhead coverage. The first two satellites in the Blackjack constellation are scheduled for launch in late 2021. Prior to that, three SEAKR and SSCI demonstration flights, all planned as rideshare opportunities, are scheduled to begin launching in 2020. Each flight aims to verify and validate key technologies to be integrated into Blackjack satellites, to include high-speed supercomputing, optical inter-satellite links, ground software for tactical user access, satellite and constellation autonomy, and advanced processing, exploitation, and dissemination.
SEAKR Engineering is the Blackjack prime contractor for the autonomous mission system called Pit Boss. Pit Boss is an autonomous, collaborative, distributed space-based enterprise that is designed to self-task, process, and distribute tactically relevant information to manned and unmanned subscribers. The SEAKR solution includes SEAKR's supercomputing hardware and teammate SSCI's Collaborative Mission Autonomy Software.
As prime, SEAKR supports the Blackjack program with two risk reduction demonstration flights planned as LEO rideshares. The first demonstration, Mandrake I, delivered on a cubesat, aims to demonstrate key Pit Boss hardware and chip level technologies prior to full production. The experimental orbital platform includes a digital twin and strives for 'real-time' efficacy feedback on LEO radiation mitigations and processor performance.
The Mandrake II flight demonstration, a DARPA partnership with Space Development Agency, forages early technology demonstration and verification of key Blackjack mission features. Mandrake II is designed to engage laser communications between satellites and also to ground assets with Blackjack constellation laser terminals. The demonstration merits SEAKR's forward trajectory developing state of the art space-based mesh network capabilities for Pit Boss, an integral part of the Blackjack Program.
SSCI meanwhile continues, under a Blackjack contract, to develop an early on-orbit risk reduction demonstration of Pit Boss. The mission, dubbed "Sagittarius-A*", is planned to include technology provided by SSCI's partners Orbit Logic, Emergent Space Technologies, Raytheon BBN, LeafLabs, Kitware, HawkEye360, and Innoflight. To get to orbit, SSCI has executed an agreement for a flight of SSCI's Pit Boss technologies with mission service provider Loft Orbital. Loft Orbital plans to integrate the Sagittarius-A* Innoflight processor, loaded with the SSCI team's autonomous battle management command, control, and communications (BMC3) software, onto its YAM-3 spacecraft, an ESPA-class mission hosting a number of government and commercial payloads. Loft Orbital has a unique ability to deploy missions quickly due to its Payload Hub technology, a modular, bus agnostic, and payload agnostic interface adapter that enables a plug-and-play approach to satellite missions. Loft Orbital also provides a turn-key command and control system that can be used by operators for payload operations during reserved times of the day.
The Sagittarius A* mission is intended to provide a demonstration of key initial Pit Boss BMC3 software capabilities to autonomously manage a bus and payload to satisfy a tactical user's "mission service request" via prototype Blackjack human machine system interface (HMSI) ground software. Requested data services, in turn, are planned to be autonomously disseminated and shown on a tactically relevant user display system. The SSCI team's open and modular BMC3 software is designed to enable on-orbit upload and host of third-party exploitation algorithms, also referred to as "massless payloads". Multiple massless payloads are intended to be flown, all of which can operate on payload imagery data for demonstration of advanced mission capabilities. Finally, Sagittarius A* is designed to demonstrate the ability of Pit Boss to receive data products from external sources that will result in onboard autonomous tipping and cueing.
SSCI's Vice President of Research and Development, Dr. Owen Brown, summarizes the mission's potential: "This is incredibly exciting that SSCI's Collaborative Mission Autonomy (CMA), further enabled by our teammate's plug-in components and third-party massless payloads, is scheduled to 'fly' in space. With a successful execution of Sagittarius A*, we can complete our journey of demonstration testing CMA in all of the physical domains. The implication is that DARPA has established a technology paradigm that not only could offer BMC3 services for Proliferated LEO architectures, but that same technology could help unlock many of the capabilities required for multidomain integration of intelligent systems operating at the edge".
About SEAKR Engineering
SEAKR Engineering is the leading-edge provider of advanced electronics for space applications. We design and manufacture processors, command and data handling systems, advanced payloads, and manned space hardware. Founded in 1982 to revolutionize spacecraft memory systems, today SEAKR continues forward innovation with state-of-the-art space communications processors capable of channelization and beamforming.
For more information on SEAKR's processing capabilities or SEAKR products, please visit SEAKR.COM; call us at (303) 790-8499.
About Scientific Systems Company Inc.
Since 1990, Scientific Systems Company Inc. (SSCI) has been developing the brains and nervous system for manned and unmanned vehicles to operate autonomously and accomplish their missions in difficult environments for defense and commercial applications. Based in Woburn, MA, SSCI is a leading innovator in performing research and technology development for NASA and US DoD agencies. SSCI is a provider of artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous software systems for land, sea, air, and space systems, GPS-denied navigation systems, and mission planning systems. SSCI's vision is to provide autonomy for any mission. For more information, visit www.ssci.com or contact SSCI at (781) 933-5355 or info@ssci.com.
SOURCE Scientific Systems Company Inc.
source:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/darpa-pit-boss-contractors-seakr-and-ssci-team-with-darpa-for-blackjack-early-risk-reduction-orbital-flights-301077349.html
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Space-based early warning sensor design passes critical milestone
Raytheon Intelligence & Space supports U.S. Space Force “Go Fast” program for 2025 launch
[Image: Rocket Launch - Space Based Early Warning ]
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., (May 27, 2020) – Raytheon Intelligence & Space’s competitive sensor payload design passed its Preliminary Design Review for the U.S. Space Force’s Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Block 0 GEO missile warning satellites being designed and built by spacecraft prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space.
“Detecting missile launches early starts in space,” said Wallis Laughrey, vice president of Space Systems for RI&S. “Each layer, or orbit, provides a necessary and unique view of the Earth to initially detect and then track a missile. Passing the Preliminary Design Review shows that our approach meets mission requirements, putting this ‘Go Fast’ program one step closer to launch.”
Following PDR, RI&S is focusing on manufacturing hardware and building and testing critical components to reduce risk ahead of the competitive program’s Critical Design Review in 2021. The team is building an engineering development unit that will go through a number of tests to ensure it functions as planned. Tests include environmental testing to simulate space’s harsh environment, such as the thermal vacuum chamber, which tests a system under extreme temperature conditions.
“What sets us apart is our deep technology bench,” said Laughrey. “Being able to pull or modify critical technology, like focal planes and electronics, from our other programs allows us to rapidly develop new designs for any orbit.”
Planned to succeed the Space Based Infrared System by providing improved, more resilient missile warning, Next Gen OPIR Block 0 was implemented by the U.S. Air Force as a “Go Fast” acquisition program. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space competitively selected Raytheon to design a potential payload for the program just 45 days after the program was initiated. The first geostationary orbiting satellite is targeted for delivery in just 60 months.
source:
https://www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com/news/advisories/space-based-early-warning-sensor-design-passes-critical-milestone
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com/news/advisories/space-based-early-warning-sensor-design-passes-critical-milestone
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Here’s what the Space Development Agency wants from its first 10 satellites
Nathan Strout
May 5, 2020
With its first 10 satellites, the Space Development Agency wants to build a space-based mesh network that will ultimately enable on-orbit sensors to pass data to shooters in near-real time. (Jumpeestudio/Getty Images)
The Space Development Agency is seeking proposals for its first batch of satellites, which will make up its initial transport layer — an on-orbit mesh network that will connect space-based sensors with terrestrial shooters.
According to the May 1 solicitation, SDA is looking to award two contracts to build a total of 20 small satellites, which will comprise Tranche 0 of the National Security Space Architecture, a proliferated, low-Earth orbit constellation that will fulfill a multitude of military needs, including tracking hypersonic weapons; providing alternative position, navigation and timing data; delivering beyond-line-of-sight targeting; and more. Ultimately, the agency envisions a constellation made up of hundreds of interconnected satellites.
Ten of those Tranche 0 satellites will form the agency’s initial transport layer.
[Image: The Space Development Agency plans to launch satellites in two-year installments, rapidly growing its footprint in LEO until it's operating nearly 1,000 satellites in 2026.(U.S. Air Force photo by Sarah Corrice)]
One military space agency’s plan for 1,000 new satellites by 2026
The Space Development Agency plans to launch satellites in two-year installments, rapidly growing its footprint in LEO until it's operating nearly 1,000 satellites in 2026.
Nathan Strout
January 21, 2020
The spiral development approach
The agency is taking a spiral development approach to its National Security Space Architecture. Tranche 0 will be a testing and training segment that will demonstrate the integration of the architecture with other war-fighting efforts and inform future SDA developments.
Tranche 0 is anticipated to be on orbit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, with the SDA adding new tranches of satellites every two years, increasing the constellation’s size and capabilities.
Launch services will be acquired through the Orbital Services Program 4 contract or follow-on contracts.
The philosophy behind the spiral approach is that the two-year cycles allow the agency to rapidly put new capabilities on orbit in response to evolving threats. Instead of waiting years for the perfect satellite system, the agency wants to push technologies that are currently ready into orbit as soon as possible, giving war fighters increased capabilities in the near term.
With Tranche 0, the SDA wants to achieve periodic, regional, low-latency data connectivity. With Tranche 1, which will add 150 satellites to the constellation, the agency plans to provide persistent regional connectivity.
Building a mesh network
The National Security Space Architecture will be made up of several layers serving different functions. Tranche 0 will establish the transport layer, a space-based mesh network that will be able to pass data from one satellite to the next. The mesh network will operate as part of the Integrated Broadcast System, the Defense Department’s standard network for transmitting tactical and strategic intelligence and targeting data.
The key technology that will enable the transport layer are [[optical inter-satellite cross links, providing approximately 1 Gbps connections between the satellites]]. Each Transport Layer satellite will have four such cross links — forward, behind, right and left — which will allow them to pass data on to the nearest or next-nearest transport layer satellite operating in the same orbital plane.
The satellites will also be capable of cross-plane cross links, meaning they will be able to connect to non-transport layer satellites operating above or below them. Assuming that they also have optical inter-satellite cross links, these non-transport layer satellites would then be able to pass data through the transport layer’s mesh network to another satellite or even to a terrestrial shooter.
For example, it could work like this: A space-based sensor collects imagery that it wants to pass to a ground-based system, but it is not within range of any ground station. No problem. The sensor would pass on that imagery to a transport layer satellite via an cross-plane optical cross link. The data would then bounce from transport layer satellite to transport layer satellite until it arrives above its destination, where it would then be downlinked to an optical ground terminal or distributed to the appropriate weapons system via the Link 16 tactical data network.
In theory, this would allow shooters to receive space-based sensor data in near-real time.
[Image: The Space Development Agency is working with the Army to develop the ability to track time-sensitive ground threats from space and provide real-time information to war fighters. (satellite image DigitalGlobe)]
How the Army will use satellites to track land threats in real time
The Space Development Agency is working with the Army to develop the ability to track time-sensitive ground threats from space and provide real-time information to war fighters.
Nathan Strout
October 25, 2019
Since the SDA plans to continue building on the transport layer in subsequent tranches across multiple vendors, the optical inter-satellite cross links will need to be designed with interoperability in mind. The SDA also wants radio frequency cross links as a backup to the optical cross links.
Tranche 0 will include 10 transport layer satellites — three of which will include Link 16 payloads.
[Image: The Space Development Agency's understanding of how the transport layer will operate in Tranche 0. (Space Development Agency)]
The Space Development Agency's understanding of how the transport layer will operate in Tranche 0. (Space Development Agency)
During an April industry day, SDA Director Derek Tournear said this initial, space-based mesh network will form the space network component to the Defense Department’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control enterprise, or JADC2.
“The transport layer, which is what the draft [request for proposals] and the industry day was talking about today, is going to be the unifying effort across the department. That is going to be what we use for low-latency [communications] to be able to pull these networks together, and that, in essence, is going to be the main unifying truss for the JADC2 and that effort moving forward. That is going to be the space network that is utilized for that,” Tournear explained.
The agency has six goals for its Tranche 0 transport layer:
• Demonstrate low-latency data transport to the war fighter over the optical cross link mesh network.
• Demonstrate the ability to deliver data from an external, space-based sensor to the war fighter via the transport layer.
• Demonstrate a limited battle management C3 functionality.
• Transfer Integrated Broadcast System data across the mesh network to the war fighter.
• Store, relay and transmit Link 16 data over the network in near real time.
Operate a common timing reference independent of GPS.
According to the request for proposals, the SDA plans to award a contract Aug 10, with delivery expected by July 31, 2022. Responses to the solicitation are due June 1.
source:
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https%253A//www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/05/heres-what-the-space-development-agency-wants-from-its-first-10-satellites/
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SEAKR moving forward with DARPA’s Pit Boss project
Nathan Strout
May 3, 2020
SEAKR says DARPA has selected it as the sole prime for Pit Boss, an autonomous mission management solution for Project Blackjack.
SEAKR Engineering will continue developing the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Pit Boss as the sole prime contractor, the company announced April 28.
Pit Boss is the autonomous mission management system that will be used for DARPA’s Project Blackjack, an initiative to demonstrate the value of a proliferated low earth orbit constellation that takes advantage of off-the-shelf commercial satellite technologies for military uses. According to DARPA, Pit Boss will be able to take data collected by the satellites, process it on orbit and then disseminate that information to users or platforms on Earth without human input.
Pit Boss will be able to facilitate a number of functions, including augmenting position, navigation and timing capabilities, space-to-surface communications, and deliver persistent targeting and tracking data.
[Image: Project Blackjack will inform the Space Development Agency's own vast proliferated low earth orbit constellation, which it plans to begin placing on orbit in 2022. (DARPA)]
Lockheed Martin to integrate Project Blackjack satellites
The company will perform the first phase of work on the satellite demonstration project that will inform the Space Development Agency's vast proliferated low earth orbit constellation.
Nathan Strout
April 27, 2020
DARPA selected three teams, led by BAE Systems, SEAKR and Scientific Systems Company, to develop Pit Boss solutions. SEAKR’s team included Microsoft, Applied Technology Associates, Advanced Solutions Inc, Kythera Space Solutions and NKryptPhase.
SEAKR said it has received a Phase I Option II contract to continue its work on Pit Boss as the sole prime.
“The award validates SEAKR’s current program success in seeking on-orbit demonstration of state of the art processing capability incorporating autonomous operations, artificial intelligence, machine learning techniques, and bridged terrestrial and on-orbit technologies,” the company said in a statement.
source:
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https%253A//www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/03/seakr-moving-forward-with-darpas-pit-boss-project/
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DARPA satellites damaged at processing facility ahead of SpaceX launch by Sandra Erwin — January 6, 2021
DARPA is developing a prototype line of cost-effective reconnaissance satellites that will set up shop in low Earth orbit, as part of a program called Blackjack. Credit: DARPA
The satellites are part of the Blackjack program, an effort led by DARPA, the Space Development Agency and the Air Force Research Laboratory to deploy a constellation of small satellites in low-Earth orbit.
WASHINGTON — Two satellites from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that were part of an upcoming SpaceX rideshare mission have been damaged at the payload processing facility, the agency confirmed Jan. 6.
The mishap happened on Jan. 4 at SpaceX’s launch processing facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida. DARPA’s satellites were scheduled to fly to orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-1 mission, SpaceX’s first dedicated rideshare mission scheduled to launch Jan. 14.
The Transporter-1 rideshare flight will take dozens of small satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit for commercial and government customers.
The satellites are part of the Blackjack program, an effort led by DARPA, the Space Development Agency and the Air Force Research Laboratory to deploy a constellation of small satellites in low-Earth orbit.
DARPA Program Manager Stephen Forbes said Jan. 6 in a statement to SpaceNews that the satellites sustained damaged and the agency is evaluating the next steps.
“DARPA and its government partners are currently working with launch provider SpaceX to execute their root cause, corrective action process and assess damage to the satellites,” Forbes said.
The two satellites are experiments known as Mandrake 1 and Mandrake 2 which DARPA describes as “risk reduction” flights to prove advanced technologies such as satellite constellation autonomy and optical inter-satellite links in advance of the actual deployment of Blackjack satellites.
According to an industry source the mishap happened while the satellites were being stacked and the payload separation system was accidentally released. SpaceX did not respond to questions on what caused the mishap.
Forbes said that the accident, “while unfortunate, doesn’t adversely impact the Blackjack program.”
Commercial Launch
Military
Blackjack DARPA
SpaceX
source:
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://spacenews.com/darpa-satellites-damaged-at-processing-facility-ahead-of-spacex-launch/
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Blackjack: a 2018+ program to develop and test military satellite constellation technologies with a variety of "military-unique sensors and payloads [attached to] commercial satellite buses. ...as an 'architecture demonstration intending to show the high military utility of global LEO constellations and mesh networks of lower size, weight, and cost spacecraft nodes.' ... The idea is to demonstrate that 'good enough' payloads in LEO can perform military missions, augment existing programs, and potentially perform 'on par or better than currently deployed exquisite space systems.'"[51] Blue Canyon Technologies,[52] Raytheon,[53] and SA Photonics Inc.[54] were working on phases 2 and 3 as of fiscal year 2020.
source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA#Active_projects
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source:
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DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
SA Photonics Inc.,* Los Gatos, California, has been awarded a $16,361,123 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack Track A (Payload) Phases 2 and 3 program. Work will be performed in Los Gatos, California (89%); and Redwood City, California (11%), with an estimated completion date of March 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $16,130,000 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement, HR001118S0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0095).
source:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2213629//
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DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
Blue Canyon Technologies Inc.,* Boulder, Colorado, has been awarded a $14,183,250 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack Track B (Bus) Phases 2 and 3 program. Work will be performed in Boulder, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of June 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $10,282,600 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement HR0011-18-S-0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-20-C-0094).
source:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2215443//
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DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
Raytheon Co., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $37,442,009 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack program, Phase 2. This contract provides for the research, development, and demonstration of an Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) payload for Blackjack. Raytheon will complete design, fabricate, test, and deliver in quantity space-flight ready OPIR payloads capable of integrating with multiple Blackjack buses and Pit Boss subsystem supporting an on-orbit constellation level demonstration. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, with an estimated completion date of April 2023. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $24,934,144; and fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $8,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement, HR001118S0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0096).
source:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2218996//
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Project Blackjack: DARPA’s LEO satellites take off
By Harry Lye
23 Jul 2020 (Last Updated July 23rd, 2020 15:48)
Darpa is working with Lockheed Martin on the first stage of satellite integration for project blackjack, a military low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. Harry Lye finds out more from the programme leaders.
[Image: Project Blackjack: DARPA’s LEO satellites take off]
In April 2020, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $5.8m contract for the first phase of satellite integration on DARPA’s Blackjack programme. Lockheed Martin will manage interfacing between Blackjack’s bus, payload and Pit Boss in the run-up to the launch of a demonstration constellation in 2021-22.
As traditional military satellites are expensive to replace, DARPA is betting on low earth orbit constellations as a means to get military hardware into orbit at a lower cost with the Blackjack programme. Such a system would remove single points of failure both in space and on the ground. It would also mean a shift towards on-orbit processing, where the Blackjack constellation can shoulder the processing burden of ground-based systems.
“The advantage of on-orbit processing is that it brings resilience in a proliferated LEO constellation, DARPA Blackjack programme manager Paul “Rusty” Thomas told us. “Putting distributed processing in space eliminates a single point of failure in space or on the ground.”
[LEO vs GEO satellites]
The US is looking to achieve a number of goals with a military low earth orbit constellation, ranging from cost to latency, says Lockheed Martin programme director for advanced missile defence Julie Pecson.
“There are advantages and disadvantages of all orbital regimes,” she tells us. “For LEO constellations, data latency is reduced because the satellites are closer to the earth compared to geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) where traditional military satellites fly. Also, LEO satellites are generally smaller in size because they require less propulsion and less power.”
However, due to operating at a higher altitude, one GEO satellite can cover the same area as several LEO satellites. This means that more LEO satellites are needed to provide the same level of service to the military. This disadvantage can be somewhat an advantage in itself, though.
“Due to their proximity to earth, more LEO satellites are required to perform similar GEO missions,” Pecson explains. “However, the numerous spacecraft required in LEO provide an inherent constellation-level resiliency advantage over traditional military constellations relying on a small number of spacecraft. Lockheed Martin Space performs mission analysis to determine the best orbit and constellation architecture to support the mission.”
Commenting on the need for more LEO satellites to do the job of one GEO satellite, Blackjack lead Paul Thomas said: “The trade-off is that you need more satellites in LEO for regional or global coverage, but the same rocket can put two to three times as much mass into LEO as it can into GEO, and the LEO satellites are ten to 25 times lower in mass. That means you have proliferated constellations in LEO that can either do similar missions as in GEO, or augment GEO missions.”
Thomas explains that LEO constellations offer a number of advantages over traditional GEO satellites. The components of a LEO system, such as sensors, communications and ISR equipment, are smaller and lighter – as are the power systems and bus components needed to run a LEO satellite. This means several LEO satellites can be put into space in one single launch.
“The lower unit size and mass also enables faster design and deployment cycles because the design/build complexity of a 200kg LEO satellite is so much lower than a GEO satellite that weighs in at two metric tons,” Thomas adds.
Learning from the commercial sector
Project Blackjack was partly inspired by the proliferation of LEO constellations and the development of the technology in the commercial space. Plans for Blackjack were originally built around the concept of leveraging commercial developments, such as those recently highlighted by the Starlink constellation.
“Blackjack was founded on the concept of leveraging the commercial communications mega-constellations’ global datalink and the capability of their commoditised production line buses to produce a satellite a day, which would enable LEO constellations where you have these smaller satellites,” Thomas explains. “Mega-constellations are in the early phases of showing these lower cost, and individual satellites can add up to highly capable global broadband networks.
Even with the success of Starlink getting to 420 satellites to orbit we recognise that complete reliance on any commercial system for DoD/IC use is not ideal and the Blackjack demo will be built with appropriate communication subsystems to ensure military utility with or without operational commercial constellations.”
Commercial LEO constellations have shown that LEO satellites can be developed and manufactured on a large scale, and have proven to excel in tasks such as providing broadband access over a large area. Blackjack is building on this by bringing the capabilities to military use, allowing for low-cost upgrades and a faster design cycle than those offered by existing satellite options.
[The timeline for Blackjack]
DARPA is currently working with the US Space Force and US Space Development Agency to demonstrate ‘small-risk’ satellites that will take flight towards the end of this year and later in 2021.
“The first demonstration, Mandrake 1, is a cubesat that will carry supercomputer processing chips to LEO,” Thomas says of the planned timeline. “Mandrake 2, with SDA, is a pair of small satellites that will carry optical inter-satellite links for broadband data on laser links and could form the basis of future optical mesh networks in LEO. We’re also targeting a risk reduction payload called Wildcard, a software-defined radio that will experiment with links from LEO to tactical radios.
“A data fusion experiment with ability to host massless payloads – that is, advanced 3rd party algorithms – for on-orbit target data fusion will go on a Loft Orbital mission. All of these risk reduction satellites will be launched on rideshares starting this summer and progressing through next spring and summer.”
DARPA is working to ensure the design is mature enough as it moves forward on the various aspects of the LEO constellation. As Thomas explains, the current focus is on the buses used by the satellite, before moving onto the Pit Boss autonomous mission management system.
“We anticipate we’ll begin integrating the first two payloads next summer with launch via rideshare in late 2021, followed by the remainder of the Blackjack demonstration sub-constellation in 2022,” he adds.
For DARPA’s partner Lockheed Martin, one challenge to overcome for Blackjack is the complexity of integration. “Lockheed Martin Space constantly looks for innovative ways to assure delivery of mission capabilities to our partners,” Pecson explains. “Integrating different bus types from multiple performers adds a level of complexity to the Blackjack program.
“However, we are working with our associate contractors to maximise the use of existing, proven and open interface standards to achieve the greatest amount of synergy. Lockheed Martin’s performance on Blackjack will further demonstrate our commitment and expertise as a proven integrator for rapid mission schedules.”
source:
https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/project-blackjack-darpas-leo-satellites-take-off/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https%253A//www.airforce-technology.com/features/project-blackjack-darpas-leo-satellites-take-off/
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Blackjack (satellite)
Blackjack
[Mission type] Technology demonstrator, Reconnaissance
[Operator] DARPA
[Spacecraft properties]
Spacecraft Blackjack
Bus Blue Canyon Technologies
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin
[Start of mission]
Launch date October 2021 (planned)
[Orbital parameters]
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Blackjack program
Blackjack is a name used for small American surveillance satellites to be launched starting in 2021. These will replace or compliment larger systems such as [[Misty]] and [[KH-11]]. These new orbiters will be cheaper, more numerous and short-lived than existing systems.[1]
The new devices could be launched more covertly, would be harder to track and attack and would be constantly replaced by new versions as the older ones fall to Earth. Each would have limited capabilities, but would operate as part of a constellation of twenty satellites networked together. Costs would be reduced by using the common commercial satellite buses now available.[2] In mid 2020, open sources indicated the first two satellites would be launched in the third quarter of 2021.[3]
source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack_(satellite)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_(satellite)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11
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DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
Raytheon Co., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $37,442,009 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack program, Phase 2. This contract provides for the research, development, and demonstration of an Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) payload for Blackjack. Raytheon will complete design, fabricate, test, and deliver in quantity space-flight ready OPIR payloads capable of integrating with multiple Blackjack buses and Pit Boss subsystem supporting an on-orbit constellation level demonstration. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, with an estimated completion date of April 2023. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $24,934,144; and fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $8,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement, HR001118S0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0096).
source:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2218996//
____________________________________
DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
Blue Canyon Technologies Inc.,* Boulder, Colorado, has been awarded a $14,183,250 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack Track B (Bus) Phases 2 and 3 program. Work will be performed in Boulder, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of June 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $10,282,600 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement HR0011-18-S-0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-20-C-0094).
source:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2215443//
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DARPA orders six satellites from Blue Canyon Technologies for Blackjack program by Sandra Erwin — February 24, 2021
Blue Canyon Technologies is using the 150-kilogram X-SAT bus for DARPA's Blackjack program.
Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies
Blue Canyon, a company owned by Raytheon Technologies, developed a satellite for DARPA based on its commercial X-SAT bus.
WASHINGTON — Blue Canyon Technologies has received a contract option worth $26.5 million to produce six satellites for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a company spokesman told SpaceNews.
DARPA has exercised the option to buy six more satellites in addition to four the agency ordered in June under a $14.1 million contract.
Blue Canyon said the first four satellites will be delivered by the end of the year, and the additional six satellites by the end of 2022.
The spacecraft are for DARPA’s Blackjack program, a project to demonstrate a mesh network of small satellites in low Earth orbit. DARPA plans to start deploying a constellation by late 2022.
Blue Canyon, based in Boulder, Colorado, is owned by Raytheon Technologies.
The company is developing a custom bus design for DARPA based on its 150-kilogram X-SAT commercial bus. According to the spokesman, the customized bus includes advanced electric propulsion, a power system, command and data handling, radio frequency communications and payload interfaces capable of hosting different military payloads.
Blue Canyon’s bus passed a critical design review conducted by DARPA last year. The satellites will be made at the company’s factory in Lafayette, Colorado.
The remaining options in DARPA’s contract, if they are exercised, are worth $41.1 million.
Blue Canyon is a commercial satellite bus provider and has a growing government business. It has made satellites for DARPA, the U.S. Air Force and NASA, and provided the attitude control systems for the first interplanetary CubeSats, which successfully traveled to Mars.
Commercial
Military
Blue Canyon Technologies
DARPA
source:
https://spacenews.com/darpa-orders-six-satellites-from-blue-canyon-technologies-for-blackjack-program/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://spacenews.com/darpa-orders-six-satellites-from-blue-canyon-technologies-for-blackjack-program/
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Blue Canyon Technologies Completes Satellite Bus CDR for DARPA Blackjack Program
By Rachel Jewett | December 18, 2020
Broadband
Contracts
Military
DARPA Blackjack Satellites. Photo: DARPA
Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) has completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) validating its X-SAT Saturn-class bus design to support the Blackjack Program, the company announced Dec. 14.
Blackjack is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program to leverage commercial Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) technology for a global high-speed network for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
In the CDR, which took place over a two-day period at its satellite constellation factory in Lafayette, Colorado, BCT demonstrated its X-SAT Saturn-class bus design, validating the design and capabilities of the system in support of the Blackjack program. The Saturn bus is the largest microsatellite bus that BCT offers.
Michelle Narciso, BCT program manager, told Via Satellite that BCT expanded the capabilities of the bus to support the broad set of missions for Blackjack, including more power, and the ability to support higher orbit ranges.
This CDR comes after Blue Canyon won a $14.1 million contract in July to manufacture four satellites, with a potential value of $99.4 million. Now, BCT will go into production for the four buses, the first two of which will be delivered in August 2021.
Daniel O’Dell, program manager, spoke to the speed of the timeline to the CDR: “This is truly a go-fast program. Blue Canyon works very fast, [the company is] building a commodity bus line, which is what DARPA is looking for. It’s because of DARPA’s willingness to work with us and let us produce our best effort in the time that we can truly go at breakneck speed.”
BCT is currently undergoing acquisition by Raytheon Technologies, which is expected to close in early 2021.
source:
https://www.satellitetoday.com/government-military/2020/12/18/blue-canyon-technologies-completes-satellite-bus-cdr-for-darpa-blackjack-program/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://www.satellitetoday.com/government-military/2020/12/18/blue-canyon-technologies-completes-satellite-bus-cdr-for-darpa-blackjack-program/
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Telesat wins DARPA contract to manufacture satellite buses for Blackjack program by Sandra Erwin — October 14, 2020
Telesat is modifying the Airbus Arrow spacecraft for the DARPA Blackjack program.
Credit: Airbus
Telesat will adapt two Airbus Arrow spacecraft for the Blackjack program
WASHINGTON — Telesat announced Oct. 14 it has won a $18.3 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce two satellite buses for the Blackjack low-Earth orbit constellation.
The two satellites will be a “highly modified version” of the Airbus Arrow spacecraft, Don Brown, general manager of Telesat U.S. Services, told SpaceNews.
The two satellites will be delivered in 2021 and will be part of the Blackjack demonstration of optical inter-satellite links in orbit, Brown said.
Telesat, a satellite operator based in Canada, plans to build a constellation of 298 internet satellites in low-Earth orbit. The company has not yet selected a bus manufacturer for its constellation so it decided to adapt the Airbus Arrow for the DARPA program so it could meet the delivery schedule.
The 150-kilogram Arrow is a derivative of the spacecraft made by Airbus and OneWeb for the OneWeb constellation.
The two buses that Telesat is making for DARPA are each about 200 kilograms. “We are modifying the Arrow very significantly,” said Brown.
Each spacecraft will carry a military payload and two optical inter-satellite links from two different vendors that Brown said he could not disclose.
This is what makes Blackjack “a real demonstration of how you do interoperability,” he said.
Telesat’s DARPA contract has options worth up to $175.6 million for 20 buses. Brown said that if those options are exercised, Telesat will offer the buses it will produce for its own constellation, which is projected to start launching in 2022. A manufacturer will be announced “very soon,” said Brown.
DARPA plans to deploy 20 spacecraft connected by optical inter-satellite links and demonstrate how the military could use a low-Earth orbit network for communications, missile tracking and navigation.
Telesat is the second bus manufacturer selected for Blackjack. Blue Canyon Technologies in July won a contract to produce four buses for the demonstration, with options for up to 20 buses.
DARPA is keen on demonstrating the ability to connect a mesh network of satellites in space using optical links from multiple manufacturers, Brown said.
Telesat is providing technical advice on optical links to Lockheed Martin for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer, which is also a mesh network similar to Blackjack. In Telesat’s constellation each satellite will have four optical links.
Commercial
Military
Airbus
Blackjack
DARPA
Telesat
Telesat LEO
source:
https://spacenews.com/telesat-wins-darpa-contract-to-manufacture-satellite-buses-for-blackjack-program/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://spacenews.com/telesat-wins-darpa-contract-to-manufacture-satellite-buses-for-blackjack-program/
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DARPA’s Blackjack Jumps Forward With Payload, Bus, Demo Awards Risk reduction missions this year "are separate flights to prove technologies" and not part of the planned 20-satellite Blackjack constellation, explains program manager Rusty Thomas.
By Theresa Hitchens on June 15, 2020 at 6:15 PM
WASHINGTON: DARPA’s closely-watched Blackjack program to explore how DoD can use commercial technology to develop a range of technologies — from communications systems to sensors to on-orbit data processing software to low-cast busses — for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations is pushing fast toward first launch in 2021, with a spate of contracts issued over the past couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, a set of three risk reduction experiments are being planned for rideshare launches (i.e. as payloads on rockets carrying other satellites) later this year, managed by prime contractors SEAKR Engineering and Scientific Systems Co. Inc (SSCI). “Each flight aims to verify and validate key technologies to be integrated into Blackjack satellites, to include high-speed supercomputing, optical inter-satellite links, ground software for tactical user access, satellite and constellation autonomy, and advanced processing, exploitation, and dissemination,” the two companies said in an announcement this evening.
On Friday, DARPA issued Raytheon a $37.4 million award to provide an Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) sensor to be integrated into multiple bus designs and the Pit Boss cloud-based, autonomous mission management system for the constellation. Lockheed Martin was chosen in late April as prime systems integrator for Phase 1 of the program. Pit Boss is being developed by SEAKR and SSCI.
Under the Phase 2 contract, Raytheon will “complete design, fabricate, test, and deliver in quantity space-flight ready OPIR payloads” with work estimated to be completed in April 2023.
(Raytheon, along with the Northrop Grumman/Ball Aerospace team, is designing an IR sensor payload for the Air Force’s Next-Generation OPIR system missile warning satellites. Raytheon’s Intelligence and Space unit on May 27 announced that its sensor had passed preliminary design review, and that the company is now readying hardware for next year’s Critical Design Review.)
On June 9, DARPA awarded a $16.4 million contract to SA Photonics in Los Gatos, California, for optical communications terminals for the various satellite busses to be delivered by next March.
Although Blackjack Program Manager Rusty Thomas told Breaking D in an email today that multiple bus providers remain in the competition, Blue Canyon Technologies in Boulder, Colorado on June 10 won a $14.9 million contract for busses to be delivered by June 2021.
“Multiple bus providers remain under consideration. BCT’s contract initiates detailed system design to ensure Pit Boss autonomy interfaces are compatible with BCT’s existing flight computer,” he said.
Blackjack is testing multiple payloads on multiple satellites buses — with modular designs that permit plug and play capability — to “develop and validate critical elements of global high-speed autonomous networks in LEO.” Such low-cost, proliferated LEO constellations could provide DoD “with highly connected, resilient, and persistent overhead coverage,” according to a DARPA news release.
The technologies being developed under Blackjack are critical to enabling DoD’s Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) network to underpin future All-Domain Operations. So-called proliferated LEO operations — particularly broadband satellites to enable high speed, low-latency Internet connectivity — are being eyed across DoD — particularly by the Air Force under its Advanced Battle Management System effort.
DARPA hopes to have a 20 low-cost demonstration satellites on orbit by 2022, when as Breaking D readers know, decisions are expected on whether the effort will be transformed into a program of record, and if so by whom — the Space Development Agency (SDA) or the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). Both currently are slated as Blackjack transition partners.
Next steps for the program are for four “risk reduction” launches as rideshares hopefully this year and next — depending on how launch providers are affected by the COVID 19 pandemic. (Rideshares are different than hosted payloads, in that they involve launches of individual satellites, albeit often tiny ones. Hosted payloads are payload packages, such as a sensor system, carried on someone else’s satellite.)
These flight demos include, according to the SEAKR-SSCI announcement:
• The Mandrake 1 cubesat that “aims to demonstrate key Pit Boss hardware and chip level technologies prior to full production; and,
• The Mandrake 2, which is a partnership between DARPA and SDA, carrying a pair of optical satellite-to-satellite interlinks “designed to engage laser communications between satellites and also to ground assets with Blackjack constellation laser terminals.”
Taken together, DARPA explains, the two Mandrakes could help demonstrate the feasibility of LEO-based optically meshed data networks. SEAKR is the prime for these experiments.
SCCI is managing the third risk reduction flight, a data fusion experiment, Sagittarius A*. “The experiment, according to the SEAKR-SCCI announcement, “is planned to include technology provided by SSCI’s partners Orbit Logic, Emergent Space Technologies, Raytheon BBN, LeafLabs, Kitware, HawkEye360, and Innoflight.”
That experiment will be carried on Loft Orbital’s YAM-3 microsatellite. Loft Orbital will be charged with integrating “the Sagittarius-A* Innoflight processor, loaded with the SSCI team’s autonomous battle management command, control, and communications (BMC3) software” onto its spacecraft for launch, the announcement said.
According to DARPA, a fourth risk reduction payload also in the works is Wildcard, a software defined radio that could link LEO satellites directly to tactical radios on the ground.
Thomas explained in his email that “the upcoming risk reduction flights aim to demonstrate advanced technology for satellite constellation autonomy and space mesh networks in advance of the Blackjack demonstration constellation.
“They are separate flights to prove technologies,” he added, “and not included in the ‘up to 20’ satellite demonstration constellation. Several sensor payloads are still under consideration for Blackjack constellation satellites, as is the order in which they will launch.”
According to DARPA’s May press release, work to begin integration complete payloads for the 20 full-up demonstration satellites will begin later this summer, with two satellites planned for launch in 2021 and the rest in 2022.
Blackjack is slated to get $75 million in DARPA’s 2021 budget request, up $25 million from the $50 million allocated by Congress last year.
The Air Force’s 2021 request for the Space Force show $59 million in Military Interdepartmental Purchase (MIPR) funds for Blackjack development between the first and third quarters of 2021 and support for the launch of two satellites beginning in the fourth quarter stretching through the end of 2022.
SDA’s 2021 budget documents include no Blackjack-specific funding.
source:
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/darpas-blackjack-jumps-forward-with-payload-bus-demo-awards/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/darpas-blackjack-jumps-forward-with-payload-bus-demo-awards/
https://www.textise.net/showText.aspx?strURL=
____________________________________
DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
SA Photonics Inc.,* Los Gatos, California, has been awarded a $16,361,123 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack Track A (Payload) Phases 2 and 3 program. Work will be performed in Los Gatos, California (89%); and Redwood City, California (11%), with an estimated completion date of March 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $16,130,000 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement, HR001118S0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001120C0095).
source:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2213629//
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CACI Announces Successful Demonstration of Optical Intersatellite Links in Low Earth Orbit
Company Release - 5/17/2022
Industry first for new technology designed to support the National Defense Space Architecture
RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today it successfully demonstrated space to space optical communications links in low earth orbit (LEO) in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Space Development Agency (SDA) as part of the Mandrake II program.
Mandrake II is a joint risk-reduction program with DARPA, SDA and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV) to evaluate the pointing, acquisition, and tracking algorithms that allow for optical communication terminals to establish and maintain high-speed communication links in the upcoming Blackjack and SDA Transport and Tracking Layer constellations. This successful test, completed using CACI’s CrossBeam free-space optical terminals, is the first step in establishing more secure, space-based communications networks for defense agencies using more powerful, efficient technology that can transmit more data, faster.
In December 2021, CACI acquired California-based SA Photonics to address a broader market spanning high-end manned flight programs to the proliferated LEO market. The combined companies offer the most advanced photonics engineering and manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. with three major manufacturing facilities in California, Florida, and New Jersey.
John Mengucci, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our national security depends on advanced, secure technology that enables modernized networks and enhanced intelligence systems for our warfighters using small satellites to operate at the speed of relevance. Through the acquisition of SA Photonics, our joint technology and manufacturing capabilities have enabled this successful milestone. In partnership with our mission customers, we are on the path to supporting the contested space domain with faster, more secure satellites.
The Optical InterSatellite Links (OISLs) were established using CrossBeam free-space optical terminals currently on orbit, developed by SA Photonics, with satellites that are specifically aimed at demonstrating and supporting a communication capability for the Department of Defense’s proliferated LEO (p-LEO) National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA).
The CrossBeam OISLs on Mandrake II successfully established an optical link during a 40+ minute test on April 14. The link demonstrated closed loop tracking and data transfer over a 100+ km link distance, with more than 200 gigabits (Gb) of data transmitted and received.
The CrossBeam technology provides satellite crosslinks and bi-directional satellite-to-earth links via low complexity systems, minimizing size, weight, power, and cost.
“Working with our partners on this industry milestone, we are proud to support the customer mission with this proliferated LEO class of low SWaP-C optical communication terminal,” said CACI SA Photonics Chief Operating Officer Mustafa Veziroglu. “Building on the success of the Mandrake II program, the highly-manufacturable second-generation CrossBeam optical terminal is now ready to move into volume production in our expanded Los Gatos, California campus and new manufacturing facility in Orlando.”
About CACI
CACI’s has decades of experience in photonics design services, product development, and delivery of Free-Space Optical Communication and LiDAR sensing solutions. With the acquisition of SA Photonics, the combined portfolios offer resilient communications terminals for low-earth and geo-synchronous orbit, improving the performance of satellites carrying out intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and telecommunications missions, and providing high data rate links at low SWaP.
CACI’s approximately 22,000 talented employees are vigilant in providing the unique expertise and distinctive technology that address our customers’ greatest enterprise and mission challenges. Our culture of good character, innovation, and excellence drives our success and earns us recognition as a Fortune World's Most Admired Company. As a member of the Fortune 500 Largest Companies, the Russell 1000 Index, and the S&P MidCap 400 Index, we consistently deliver strong shareholder value. Visit us at www.caci.com.
There are statements made herein which do not address historical facts, and therefore could be interpreted to be forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in CACI’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 20, 2021, and other such filings that CACI makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Any forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon and only speak as of the date hereof.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220517005169/en/
Corporate Communications and Media:
Jody Brown, Executive Vice President, Public Relations
(703) 841-7801, jbrown@caci.com
Investor Relations:
Daniel Leckburg, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
(703) 841-7666, dleckburg@caci.com
Source: CACI International Inc
source:
https://investor.caci.com/news/news-details/2022/CACI-Announces-Successful-Demonstration-of-Optical-Intersatellite-Links-in-Low-Earth-Orbit/default.aspx
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