The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded funding to four contractor teams (pdf) for the first phase of the Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft demonstration program (F-6).
Fractionated Spacecraft operate like a WiFi mesh in the sky. Instead of a $1 Billion, 10,000-pound spacecraft (that doesn’t work), smaller funtional modules - orbiting in a swam - are linked wirelessly (Booze Allen study).
Swapping out orbiting nodes could maintain or enhance functionality.
Contracts are being awarded to:
- The Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif., teamed with L3 Communications, Millennium Space Systems, Octant Technologies, and Science Applications International Corp. ($12,891,049);
- Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Palo Alto, Calif., teamed with Aurora Flight Sciences, Colbaugh & Heinsheimer Consulting, Vanderbilt University, and Lockheed Martin Integrated and Global Systems ($5,762,781);
- Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corp. , Redondo Beach, Calif., teamed with Alliant Tech Systems Inc., Aurora Flight Sciences, Juniper Networks, L3 Communications, BAE Systems, Cornell University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Southern California, and University of Virginia ($6,159,866);
- Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., teamed with IBM, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, SpaceDev, and Aurora Flight Sciences
($13,648,758).
DARPA F6 Program Manager Dr. Owen Brown explains, “It diversifies risk during launch by not putting all of our eggs into one basket, greatly improves robustness to attack, and provides the capability to rapidly replace a failed component without needing complex in-orbit servicing”.
The DARPA System F6 program intends to demonstrate that each module can contribute a unique capability to the rest of the network, such as computing, ground communications, or payload functionality. The goal is to launch and demonstrate it in orbit within four years.
Here’s a Fantasy scenario — just for Fun — U.S. satellite reconnaissance is now effectively dead in the water. You’ve got 4 months to launch.
Related DailyWireless articles include; Nuclear Powered Spacecraft, Infrastructure War, Space Cold War, Chinese Destroy Satellite - Create Space Debris Field, F.I.A. FUBAR, Another Billion for WIN-T, Small Satellite Conference, Crisis at NOAA, Dark Week in Space, Space Capsule, Software Radios in Space, Satellite Jam, Advanced EHF - Wait for It and Pacific Telecommunication Council: 007.
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