Fresh on the heels of a massive funding round, Impulse Space has landed a $34.5 million contract from the Space Force for two ultra-mobile spacecraft missions.
Under the Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program, the two missions will demonstrate how highly maneuverable spacecraft can help the military rapidly respond to threats in space.
For the first mission, called Victus Surgo, one of Impulse’s Mira spacecraft will travel to a very high orbit using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and an Impulse Space Helios kick stage. This will be the first time Helios operates on orbit. For the second mission, called Victus Salo, a second Mira spacecraft will launch to low Earth orbit on a SpaceX Transporter ride-share mission. Both spacecraft will integrate a modular payload interface to reduce the time it takes to integrate payloads to the spacecraft.
Once on orbit, the two spacecraft “will be able to quickly conduct space domain awareness,” the Space Force said in a statement, referring to a wide sweep of operations including surveillance and reconnaissance on orbit. It is unclear when these missions are scheduled to take place, but Impulse has previously that Helios is slated for its inaugural flight in 2026.
If this mission is anything like the other contracted missions under the TacRS program, the mission will have to go through successive phases, including a “hot standby” phase where the startup will essentially have to stand ready to respond to the Space Force’s instruction to get the satellite ready for launch. TechCrunch has reached out to the Space Force for comment and will update the story if it responds.
The TacRS program is the Space Force’s sweeping effort to cultivate ultra-fast launch and spacecraft operations from private industry. The first mission contracted under the program, called Victus Nox, saw awardees Millennium Space Systems and Firefly Aerospace break records for satellite integration and launch, respectively. The rocket launched the payload to orbit just 27 hours after receiving the ‘go’ to launch from the Space Force.
Impulse Space is an obvious choice for such missions. The startup, which was founded by SpaceX’s former CTO of propulsion Tom Mueller, is developing a line of orbital transfer vehicles that can move satellites around on orbit after they’ve been launched by a rocket. These spacecraft use chemical propulsion systems that afford large amounts of high delta-v, or change in velocity.
The Vicus Surgo and Victus Salo missions are funded by the Space Force’s Space Systems Command in partnership with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.