File photo showing the Nauka (Science) Multipurpose Laboratory Module docked to the International Space Station (ISS) next to Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on July 29, 2021.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
In what would seem to be a real-world Star Wars like situation if Earth ever counters aliens, an 'on-orbit space domain awareness' (SDA) program which is being developed by US might prove to be one of the potential defenses. The US Space Systems Command (SSC) has collaborated with two vendors in the space equipment sector for a demonstration mission titled 'Victus Haze'.
SSC will execute the demonstration mission In partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit and SpaceWERX, through two contracts. According to an official SSC release, DIU awarded a contract to Rocket Lab National Security at a value of $32 million (Rs 2.67 crore) while SpaceWERX will award a contract to a a US company True Anomaly.
Of the total $60 million (Rs 501 crore) needed for the demonstration mission, the release said that the US government will fund $30 million (Rs 250 crore), and True Anomaly will leverage $30 million of internal private capital.
The scope of the mission as per SSC is to study and develop tech-equipped systems that would help US be prepared to neutralise any attacks on Earth from space, if in case such a scenario occurs ever. According to Lt Col MacKenzie Birchenough, SSC’s materiel leader for Space Safari: “The commercial space industry is advancing at an unprecedented pace that will provide the Space Force additional options to quickly respond to adversary aggression.”
“VICTUS HAZE will demonstrate and prove capabilities to be used for future TacRS (Tactically Responsive Space) operations in direct support of urgent Combatant Command on-orbit needs,” he added.
The two selected vendors for Victus Haze— True Anomaly and Rocket Lab will work to build Rendezvous and Proximity Operation (RPO) capable Space Vehicles (SVs) and command and control centres. SSC said that the demonstration project will be built and be ready by 2025.
The release further reads: "Once the build phase is completed the mission will enter several successive phases to include hot standby, activation, alert and launch phases. While this is a coordinated demonstration, each vendor will be given unique launch and mission profiles. True Anomaly’s SV will launch from either Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida or Vandenberg Space Force Base in California via a rapid rideshare."