U.S. military to award smallsat launch contracts using COVID-19 relief funds – Spaceflight Now

Astra’s first orbital-class small satellite launcher, designated “1 of 3,” is raised vertical in this photo taken at a spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska, in February. Credit: DARPA
The U.S. military said this week it plans to award rideshare small satellite launch contracts to six U.S. companies using funds appropriated to help stabilize the defense industrial base amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The monetary values of the planned firm fixed price contract awards was not released in the notice, which was published on a federal government procurement website Wednesday.
The companies set to win contract awards through funding provided through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in March. The CARES Act appropriated $1 billion in funding for the Pentagon to use through the Defense Production Act — a law enacted in 1950 — to purchase medical equipment and support the health of critical military supplier put at risk by the coronavirus pandemic.
Defense Department officials have identified small satellite launch companies, many of which are in capital-intensive development phases, as particularly at risk of impacts from the economic downturn triggered by the global pandemic.
Aevum, Astra, X-Bow, Rocket Lab, Space Vector and VOX Space will each receive sole-source contracts, the Defense Department said. Each company will get contracts for two commercial rideshare satellite launches, according to the procurement notice.