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TL;DR: The U.S. Area Drive has tapped Seattle-based Gravitics to develop one thing akin to an plane provider – however for spacecraft as an alternative of jets. It is a $60 million contract signed off with the objective of defending nationwide belongings up in area from potential threats in orbit.
Experiences counsel that international locations like Russia and China are growing superior counter-space capabilities. These embrace a mixture of kinetic, non-kinetic, and cyber instruments designed to disable or destroy satellites. That alone sounds harmful. However much more alarming is the truth that any explosion in area creates particles, which may trigger cascading injury to different techniques in orbit.
Our greatest hope isn’t coming near such a situation. However for deterrence, the U.S. goals to take care of ready-to-launch countermeasures and backup communication and reconnaissance techniques – making any assault a possible train in futility.
That is the place Gravitics’ area “plane provider” idea comes into play. The thought is to pre-position a mothership in orbit, stocked with satellites or spacecraft, and shielded from the tough area surroundings till wanted.
The provider would characteristic pressurized modules, with batteries and delicate electronics on board shielded from threats like radiation.
Within the occasion of a menace, these spacecraft may deploy at a second’s discover. Gravitics CEO Colin Doughan describes it as “a pre-positioned launch pad in area” that “bypasses conventional launch constraints.”
The corporate says a demo mission may launch as early as 2026, although no agency date has been introduced. In reality, particulars concerning the challenge stay restricted.
It is value noting that this is not Gravitics’ first enterprise. The startup was based in 2021 with bold plans to construct massive, liveable constructions with synthetic gravity – therefore the identify “Gravitics.” However earlier than area resorts, the corporate is beginning smaller: its first product is a 4-meter module designed to help missions like Axiom’s non-public area station.
Gravitics can also be engaged on early designs for a a lot bigger module, dubbed “StarMax” – a 7.6-meter-diameter construction with 400 cubic meters of pressurized quantity.
For now, although, the corporate’s high precedence seems to be delivering the U.S. army a next-gen orbital mothership to assist keep dominance over the brand new “excessive frontier.”
