The U.S. Air Force (USAF) Space and Missile System Center (SMC) has announced SpaceX as the newest launch service provider eligible to compete for national space launch missions.
This milestone — two years in the making — pits Elon Musk’s company in competition against the United Launch Alliance, which traditionally held a monopoly on launching services for the USAF.
In the past, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were the go-to companies for reliable launching services. Rockets and many of their parts were essentially one-use only, costing the USAF millions with each launch.
SpaceX argues that a second source for classified military payload launch services will produce lower costs and higher quality for the Pentagon. The firm currently uses its Falcon series booster technology to lift commercial communication satellites and cargo resupply vehicles to the International Space Station.
SpaceX has tested a fly-back booster concept that, if perfected, would allow the reuse of Falcon first stages. The result would be significant cost savings compared to conventional throwaway boosters. The video below depicts an attempted landing.
The long road to certification involved more than $60 million in investments from the USAF.
One hundred and fifty people took part in the certification effort, which included three flight demonstrations, verifying 160 payload interface requirements, 21 major subsystem reviews and 700 audits in order to establish the technical baseline from which the USAF will determine launch-worthiness.
"The SpaceX and SMC teams have worked hard to achieve certification," said Lt. General Samuel Greaves, commander, SMC, USAF program executive officer for space. "And we're also maintaining our spaceflight worthiness process supporting the national security space missions. Our intent is to promote the viability of multiple EELV-class launch providers as soon as feasible." EELV stands for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
SpaceX will have its first opportunity to compete in June 2015, when the Air Force releases a Request for Proposal (RFP) for GPS III launch services.
For more information, visit losangeles.af.mil and spacex.com.
Image courtesy SpaceX.