The Space Development Agency has asked industry for information on space- and ground-based concepts, technologies and approaches that could support the delivery of the next batch of satellites called Tranche 1.
A request for information published Friday says SDA expects Tranche 1 to have approximately 100 to 150 satellites that could be launched in late fiscal year 2024 as part of the proliferated National Defense Space Architecture, a military sensing and data transport capability in low-Earth orbit.
SDA plans to release a solicitation for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer by the summer of 2021 and prefers open architectures, comprehensive platforms and other commercial capabilities for the Tranche 1 program.
The agency wants information on vendors’ experience in the development, production and testing of commoditized space vehicle buses, proliferated constellation networking platforms, expected technology and manufacturing readiness levels by summer 2021 and potential risk reduction opportunities, among others.
Responses to the RFI are due Nov. 13.
The new RFI came weeks after SDA issued a solicitation to seek a launch services provider to send 28 Tranche 0 transport and tracking satellites to orbit in 2022.
