{"id":1919,"date":"2025-08-25T07:23:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T05:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1919"},"modified":"2025-06-08T09:51:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T07:51:04","slug":"space-force-plans-to-put-a-multisatellite-carrier-into-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1919","title":{"rendered":"US Space Force plans to put a multisatellite \u2018carrier\u2019 into orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"container js-trigger-set-current-post\">\n<div class=\"ge-header\">\n<p class=\"content-subhed\"><em><strong>Gravitics gets an up-to-$60 million contract to build a satellite that can spit out other satellites as needed.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"js-content\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"l-content-row l-relative\">\n<div class=\"content-body wysiwyg l-content-well wysiwyg-article content-body-last\">\n<p class=\"drop-cap\">What\u2019s better than being able to launch satellites quickly to orbit? Having them there already\u2014or so goes the thinking behind a new $60 million Space Force contract to develop an \u201corbital carrier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gravitics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gravitics<\/a>\u00a0received a Strategic Funding Increase award from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/spacewerx.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SpaceWERX<\/a>, an innovative arm of the Space Force, worth up to $60 million \u201cto demonstrate and fly the Orbital Carrier, a groundbreaking solution for tactically responsive space,\u201d the company\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gravitics.com\/news\/orbital-carriers-stratfi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The carrier will be able to \u201cpre-position multiple maneuverable space vehicles\u201d to quickly respond to threats on orbit, the company said. The Space Force has been on the hunt for \u201ctactically responsive\u201d capabilities so the service doesn\u2019t have to wait for long launch times to get new satellites on orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Orbital Carrier is a game-changer, acting as a pre-positioned launch pad in space. It bypasses traditional launch constraints, enabling space vehicle operators to rapidly select a deployment orbit on-demand,\u201d Gravitics CEO Colin Doughan said in the announcement. The Seattle-based firm builds large space structures, including commercial space station modules and spacecraft for cargo logistics.<\/p>\n<p>The contract for an orbital carrier comes as the Space Force pushes for more resources to achieve control of the domain, a mission Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman has dubbed \u201cspace superiority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The announcement did not specify when a demonstration might take place, or what specific capabilities the carrier would have, but SpaceWERX has said its Tactically Responsive Space program will provide the Space Force with new capabilities that can quickly respond to new threats in space by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/afwerxchallenge.com\/spacewerx26\/tactically-responsive-space\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This program has also been driving down launch times through its \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.airandspaceforces.com\/ussf-victus-sol-launch-tactically-responsive-space\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Victus<\/a>\u201d program, which started with the\u00a0Victus Nox launch in 2023, sending a satellite to space just 27 hours after receiving orders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gravitics gets an up-to-$60 million contract to build a satellite that can spit out other satellites as needed. What\u2019s better than being able to launch satellites quickly to orbit? Having [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[393,69],"class_list":["post-1919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-multisatellite","tag-us-space-force"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/multisatellite.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1923,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions\/1923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}