SpaceX declined to offer launch services for three future Space Force satellite missions, and no other rocket company offered to fly them, according to two people familiar with the missions cited by POLITICO’s Audrey Decker. The missions were listed through the National Security Space Launch initiative, which the service uses to buy satellite launches. Two were for the Space Development Agency, the people said. POLITICO did not specify the third mission or precise intended launch dates.
POLITICO places the unfilled missions amid what it describes as SpaceX’s phaseout of Falcon 9 in favor of Starship. The report says many military satellites are not designed to fit Starship and that it is unclear when the rocket could meet Pentagon needs. The Space Force hopes to use United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan and Blue Origin’s New Glenn for key military satellites, POLITICO reports, but both programs have faced setbacks.
Brig. Gen. Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force’s acting portfolio acquisition executive for space access, played down concerns about finding rockets. “I wouldn’t say there [are] missions I’m worried about being able to fly; I would say we’re working through the right way to support those customers,” he said. He acknowledged temporary difficulties as new providers begin flying. POLITICO says the Space Force did not disclose a set date for its last Falcon mission. Zarybnisky said the service was “actively talking to SpaceX” and that the end date would be driven by spacecraft customers with existing launch-service contracts.
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