rapid on-orbit demonstrations<\/a>\u00a0aimed at reducing risk and speeding up technology development for future operational missions.<\/p>\n\u201cWe believe HALO will also increase the pool of performers capable of bidding on future SDA programs, including participation in layers of future tranches,\u201d SDA Director Derek Tournear said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The selected companies include orbital vehicle providers like Firefly Aerospace and Impulse Space, satellite bus manufacturers like Apex and space technology specialists like CesiumAstro and AST SpaceMobile. Each firm received an initial $20 million contract and will be eligible to compete for future prototype orders.<\/p>\n
Frank Turner, SDA\u2019s technical director, said Wednesday that as the agency solicits proposals from the contractor pool, it will form teams comprised of companies that offer the best technology solutions to the capability set that\u00a0SDA wants to demonstrate. That approach, he said, allows SDA to \u201cfly before we buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the idea of, we\u2019re not 100% sure about this technology yet, but let\u2019s go figure it out,\u201d Turner said during the Space Force\u2019s Space Industry Days conference in Los Angeles. \u201cLet\u2019s go fly it. Let\u2019s fly it quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early missions will seek to build and launch two spacecraft within 12 to 18 months, testing optical communications and tactical data links.<\/p>\n
Ian Cinnamon, CEO of Apex, said HALO offers his firm a chance to showcase its off-the-shelf satellite buses. The company recently announced a partnership with Anduril to\u00a0supply buses for its growing space portfolio.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing selected for a HALO award is an important opportunity to demonstrate Apex\u2019s ability to use productized satellite buses to rapidly support national security missions in space,\u201d Cinnamon said.<\/p>\n
Firefly Aerospace\u00a0will showcase its line of space vehicles as part of HALO. The company\u2019s Elytra spacecraft, which provides space mobility and responsive launch support, is slated to fly for the first time later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing an increasing demand for advanced in-space capabilities, including both prototype and feasibility demonstrations that support critical joint warfighter terrestrial missions with rapid and affordable commercial services,\u201d CEO Jason Kim said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Space Development Agency has picked 19 companies to experiment with new satellite technologies through its Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit program. Through the effort, dubbed HALO, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[287,288],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-space-development-agency","tag-vendor-pool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/VENDOR-POOL-SPACE.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","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=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2359,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/2359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}